Chapter 1

A fever hit 103°F in the middle of the night.

I called Curtis Delgado three times.

He never answered.

Half-delirious and barely able to stand, I used the black card he'd given me to have medicine delivered from a private pharmacy.

By the next morning, my name was everywhere.

"Emma Henson, the Delgado Family's Gold Digger."

Someone had leaked the transaction record.

The luxury brand contract I'd spent months fighting for was terminated before noon. The few business partners still willing to work with me began pulling out one after another.

My reputation, already hanging by a thread, collapsed overnight.

The Henson family had only recently crawled out from under the mountain of debt left after our businesses were destroyed. I couldn't afford another scandal.

So I swallowed my pride and went to find Curtis.

I was prepared to explain.

If necessary, I would even apologize.

But just as I reached the private lounge at the Delgado estate, I heard Curtis's voice from behind the half-closed door.

He sounded amused.

"You know the easiest way to control a woman?"

Someone inside laughed. "Money?"

Curtis chuckled.

"No."

"It's making sure she owes you."

My hand froze on the door.

His voice continued, calm and almost careless.

"Destroy her family's business. Cut off every source of money she has. Make sure no one in the city dares hire her without your permission."

"Then give her a contract she can't afford to break."

"Once the debt is big enough, she won't leave."

"She can't."

The men inside laughed.

I didn't move.

Slowly, I lowered my eyes to the contract clutched in my hand.

My gaze landed on the penalty clause.

Seven figures.

For years, I'd believed the Henson family's collapse had been bad luck.

I'd believed every investor had simply chosen the wrong moment to pull out.

I'd believed my career had stalled because the Delgado name had made people wary of me.

Now I finally understood.

None of it had been an accident.

My family's bankruptcy.

The debts that had nearly buried me.

The contracts that vanished whenever I was close to succeeding.

Every road that had mysteriously closed in front of me.

They all led back to one man.

Curtis Delgado.

……

While I stood outside the lounge, frozen in place, my phone began buzzing nonstop.

Dozens of new messages flooded the screen.

Greedy.

Shameless.

Ungrateful.

You married Curtis Delgado and still weren't satisfied?

Someone had found the address of the Henson family's old estate and sent funeral wreaths to the gates. Another package contained a dead rat.

The attacks were everywhere.

People were digging through every scandal connected to my family, demanding that the Delgado organization cut me off for good.

My social media had become a cesspool.

Every post was buried under insults. My face had been turned into vicious memes, all carrying the same message.

Leave the Delgado family.

Disappear.

And all because I'd used Curtis's card to buy fifteen dollars' worth of fever medicine.

I opened the post that had started it all.

"This woman might be the most shameless wife in the entire underworld."

"After the Henson family collapsed, Curtis Delgado poured millions into cleaning up their debts and keeping their enemies from tearing apart what was left."

"And how did Emma Henson repay him?"

"She climbed into his bed and became Mrs. Delgado."

"For years, she's lived off Delgado money, surrounded by luxury while contributing nothing to the family."

"She has access to more money than most people will see in a lifetime, yet she still uses her husband's card for a fifteen-dollar box of medicine."

"I've never seen anyone so greedy."

The post was calculated.

Every sentence had been chosen carefully.

Not one word about what I'd sacrificed for Curtis over the years.

Not one word about the deals I'd helped secure, the people I'd offended for him, or the parts of my own life I'd given up to stand beside him.

Just fifteen dollars' worth of medicine.

"The smallest things reveal a person's true character."

That was how the post ended.

A lie wrapped in moral judgment.

Yesterday, the fever had left me too sick to think straight.

Today, with my head finally clearing, I noticed something I should have seen immediately.

The account belonged to Curtis's new private secretary.

Margot Pruitt.

I'd met her several times.

Young. Beautiful. Ambitious.

And every time she looked at me, there was something almost vicious in her eyes.

I'd once assumed it was arrogance.

Now I understood.

Margot had already started imagining herself as the next Mrs. Delgado.

I opened her profile.

It was filled with photographs of her life beside Curtis.

Ski resorts in Switzerland.

Private dinners in Monaco.

Delgado estates in Tuscany.

Black-tie gatherings attended by men whose names never appeared in newspapers.

Then I saw the photograph from last night's Delgado charity gala.

My finger stopped.

Margot stood beneath the chandeliers in a couture gown, diamonds covering her throat.

Curtis stood beside her.

One hand rested lightly at her waist.

They looked like they belonged together.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

Why my invitation to the gala had been revoked at the last minute.

Why Curtis hadn't answered a single one of my calls.

He hadn't been busy.

He'd been with her.

Margot was his new favorite.

And with Curtis Delgado standing behind her, she couldn't wait to destroy what little I had left and take my place.