Chapter 1

On International Women's Day, every woman at Delgado headquarters received flowers.

Every woman except the boss's wife.

I stood beside my empty desk, watching an assistant deliver the last bouquet to a junior accountant. By noon, even the receptionists downstairs had roses.

I was halfway to HR when I heard my name through the break room door.

“Cora runs the whole technical division. Leaving her out like that seems a little cruel.”

“Then she should stop finding excuses to visit Mr. Delgado's office. Winona was furious.”

“So they canceled her flowers?”

“Put the money toward Winona's arrangement instead. Apparently, that finally cheered her up.”

Someone laughed.

“He practically hides when he sees Cora coming. You'd think she'd take the hint.”

“Women like her never do. She sees a powerful man and decides his girlfriend is an obstacle.”

I stopped outside the door.

Philip Delgado ran his legitimate businesses from this building. The men who collected debts and enforced his territory used the private entrance downstairs.

Apparently, everyone knew who his girlfriend was.

Nobody knew he had a wife.

That morning, Winona Parsons, our newest intern, had received enough white roses to cover her desk. People had come down from other floors to photograph them.

I'd walked past carrying a folder of security assessments, too tired to give them much thought.

Now I remembered the card tucked among the flowers.

Philip's handwriting.

Since he'd founded the company that handled the family's technology contracts, he hadn't bought me flowers once.

Not for my birthday. Not for our anniversary, when I'd waited at a restaurant until the kitchen closed.

There was always a meeting. A shipment held at the docks. A problem only he could solve.

The last time he'd touched me, he'd been hurried and distracted. Afterward, he'd reached for his phone before I'd even caught my breath.

Then he'd spent an hour complaining about the encrypted communications system his engineers couldn't finish.

Craig Butler's people were close to launching theirs. If the Butlers secured those contracts first, Philip would lose both the revenue and the standing he'd promised his own family.

I'd listened. I'd worried for him.

And when Craig offered me a generous partnership, I'd turned him down.

Instead, I brought my expertise to Philip. I built the system his engineers couldn't, worked through weekends, and answered calls at three in the morning while he slept.

When he asked me to keep our marriage private, I agreed.

He said his captains already resented the money he was pouring into technology. Let them see what I could do before they dismissed me as the boss's wife.

I believed him.

Now his employees called me desperate, and he let them. He avoided me in the corridors while Winona walked into his office without knocking.

I'd mistaken his silence for caution.

The flash drive pressed into my palm. I'd been on my way upstairs to show him the latest build, the breakthrough he'd been waiting for.

I looked at his office door.

Then I put the drive in my pocket and called Craig Butler.

He answered on the second ring.

“Cora?”

“Your partnership offer. Is it still open?”

“For you? Yes.”

I glanced once more at the roses on Winona's desk.

“Then I accept. I bring the technology. I get equity.”

……

For a few seconds, Craig said nothing.

Across the city, men who negotiated with him knew better than to fill his silences. The Butler family's technology empire had made him wealthy. What happened to people who crossed him had earned him the rest of his reputation.

But when he finally spoke, he sounded pleased enough to forget both.

“Cora. You won't regret this.”

“I want the terms we discussed. In writing.”

“You'll have them tonight.” His voice sharpened with anticipation. “The Eastern Pacific bid is tomorrow. Your system gives us exactly what we've been missing.”

That contract meant more than revenue. Whoever secured it would control the communications infrastructure serving half the coast's shipping terminals.

Philip had been counting on it to strengthen his position within his family.

“I'll have my lawyer contact yours,” Craig continued. “And Cora? I'm glad you called.”

A hand closed around my phone.

Before I could react, Philip pulled it from my ear.

He stood behind me, his expression cold. Several employees had followed him out of the executive wing. They stopped a few feet away, making no attempt to hide their interest.

Philip ended the call without checking the name on the screen.

“It's a bouquet, Cora.”

I stared at the phone in his hand.

“You run a division. Do you really need to go down to HR and cause a scene over flowers?”

“I haven't—”

“If people hear about this, they'll assume Winona had something to do with it.” His voice hardened. “Have you thought about what that would do to her reputation?”

I almost laughed.

I hadn't reached HR. I hadn't spoken to anyone.

And he was already here to protect her.

For a year, people had whispered that I was obsessed with him. They exchanged looks whenever I entered his office with a report. They called me desperate, bitter, too old to understand when a man wasn't interested.

Philip heard them.

In this building, a careless remark about his business could cost a man his job before lunch. Yet somehow, the rumors about his wife had continued unchecked.

Now his employees saw him reprimanding me, and whatever restraint they'd had disappeared.

“Some people have probably never received flowers,” one woman said. “I suppose it makes them a little sensitive.”

Someone behind her laughed.

“Mr. Delgado couldn't make himself clearer. At some point, you have to stop chasing him.”

“Especially when everyone knows he's with Winona.”

I looked at Philip.

He didn't turn toward any of them.

A junior administrator folded her arms.

“It was supposed to be a nice gesture for the women here. Now she's making the whole day about herself.”

“That's what happens when you let someone get away with this behavior,” another employee said. “She starts thinking she's entitled to special treatment.”

Special treatment.

I'd spent the previous night fixing a failure in the system Philip intended to present as his company's greatest achievement.

This morning, I'd come to work hoping for coffee and ten uninterrupted minutes to show him the results.

Now I stood in the corridor while people accused me of trying to steal my own husband.

He let them finish.

That hurt more than anything they said.

Perhaps his silence wasn't indifference. Perhaps it was easier to let them humiliate me than admit he wanted me to stop asking for a place beside him.

I held out my hand for my phone.

“I'm an employee here,” I said. “Every woman in this company received a benefit except me. Asking why wouldn't be a scene. It would be a reasonable question.”

He glanced at my outstretched hand, then at my face.

We'd been married for seven years. He knew how hard I was working to keep my voice steady.

Something shifted in his expression.

He returned the phone.

“Cora,” he said more quietly. “If you really want flowers, I'll—”

“Please don't.”

Winona hurried toward us carrying the enormous arrangement of white roses. The wrapping crackled against her blouse, and tears shone in her eyes.

She stopped beside Philip.

“This is my fault.”

I hadn't addressed a word to her, but she flinched when I looked at her.

“Ms. Maxwell, I'm only an intern. I know I shouldn't have accepted something so expensive.”

She thrust the bouquet toward me.

“Take them. Please.”

I kept my hands at my sides.

Her mouth trembled.

“I just want to do my job. You're a supervisor. You have so much influence here, and I don't know what I've done to upset you.”

Philip moved closer to her.

Winona noticed. Her next words came out barely above a whisper.

“Please stop using your position against me. You're frightening me.”

Behind her, two of her friends stepped forward.

One reached for her shoulder. The other turned toward Philip, already arranging her face into an expression of concern.