Chapter 2

I couldn't help looking back into the private lounge.

Under the dim lights, Curtis was sharing a drink with Margot, their faces almost touching over the rim of the glass.

Margot suddenly stumbled and fell straight into his arms.

Her cheeks flushed as the men around them whistled and laughed.

One of Curtis's friends raised his glass.

"Curtis, you really know how to play the game."

"You didn't even have to spend your own money, and you still got Emma Henson. She's stayed loyal to you all these years."

He grinned.

"But aren't you worried she'll find out the truth someday?"

Curtis took Margot's hand and pressed a casual kiss to her knuckles.

"Do you know how much Emma owes if she breaks her contract?"

He paused.

"Eight hundred million dollars."

The room went quiet for a second.

Then Curtis laughed.

"Without me, she couldn't repay that debt in ten lifetimes."

"So whatever happens, she stays where I put her."

The men around him burst into laughter.

Curtis leaned back and began explaining how he'd kept his wife under control all these years.

How he'd arranged the collapse of the Henson family, then appeared when I was desperate enough to see him as my savior.

How he'd turned a fifteen-dollar box of fever medicine into proof that I was greedy and ungrateful.

How he'd quietly closed every door that might have given me a way to rebuild my life without him.

He spoke about it all with pride.

As if destroying me had been his greatest accomplishment.

He had no idea I was standing outside the door.

Or that tears were already running down my face.

When I first met Curtis Delgado, I was at the lowest point of my life.

The Henson family had collapsed almost overnight.

My father couldn't bear the humiliation and took his own life.

My mother suffered a heart attack soon after and was hospitalized.

And I was left with the ruins.

Debts.

Lawsuits.

Enemies who had been waiting years to see the Hensons fall.

Men who used to shake my father's hand suddenly refused to take my calls.

Families that once welcomed me into their homes acted as if they had never known my name.

Only Curtis stepped forward.

I still remembered that day.

Sunlight poured through the hospital windows as he crouched in front of me.

"Emma, I know what kind of woman you are."

His smile had been warm.

"You're not like the people in our world. You don't care about power or money."

He held out his hand.

"Give me a chance to help you."

Before I could answer, Curtis had already begun.

He settled the Henson family's most urgent debts.

He brought in specialists from Europe to treat my mother.

Jewelry.

A mansion.

A diamond ring.

He gave me everything without seeming to hesitate.

When he learned how much I loved animals, he even bought a vast private estate outside the city for me.

Everyone said I'd been saved by the most powerful man in the Delgado family.

Curtis Delgado had pulled the disgraced Henson daughter out of the gutter and placed her back among the most powerful families in the country.

And I believed it too.

I was young enough to mistake possession for devotion.

So I fell in love with him.

On our wedding day, Curtis held my hands and looked into my eyes.

"Emma, I've been betrayed before."

His voice was quiet.

"The one thing I can't tolerate is a woman who marries me for the Delgado name or my money."

"I want what we have to be real."

That was why he'd prepared a special prenuptial agreement.

The terms were simple.

On paper, Curtis took a salary of only one dollar a year from the Delgado family's legitimate businesses.

If our marriage ended, my share of his personal assets would be exactly the same.

One dollar.

I wanted him to believe that I loved Curtis Delgado, not his fortune.

So I signed without hesitation.

Only after the wedding did I learn how carefully he'd planned everything.

The money he'd used to save the Henson family had never been a gift.

Every payment had been structured as a private loan.

Principal.

Interest.

Penalties.

Every dollar had to be repaid.

Even the jewelry he'd supposedly given me wasn't mine.

Every piece was registered under Georgina Delgado's name.