Chapter 1

The scent of burnt coffee and fried food clung to the air as Elena Thompson weaved through the crowded diner, balancing a tray with three plates of burgers and fries. The old ceiling fan above did little to cool the humid space, and the chatter of customers mixed with the sizzle of the kitchen grill.

“Table five,” her boss, Marv, called from behind the counter, barely glancing up as he wiped a smudge off a glass.

Elena forced a polite smile as she set down the plates for a group of college kids who barely acknowledged her. She was used to it. Five years of waitressing at Joe’s Diner had taught her that people rarely saw the person serving them.

She turned toward the register, rolling her stiff shoulders. It had been another grueling double shift, and her feet ached, but she needed the extra hours. The bills weren’t going to pay themselves, and neither was her father’s ever-growing gambling debt.

The thought of him sent a pang of exhaustion through her. William Thompson had once been a respected businessman, but after her mother passed, he’d spiraled into drinking and bad decisions. And now, he was drowning in debt to men who didn’t send reminders in the form of polite letters, they sent threats.

Elena exhaled sharply and reached for the coffee pot, topping off an old man’s cup. She had barely turned back toward the counter when the bell above the door chimed.

A man stepped inside, and the energy in the diner seemed to shift.

He didn’t belong here.

Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, he stood out like a wolf among sheep. His sharp features were unreadable, his expression cold, and his piercing gray eyes swept over the room before locking onto her.

Elena’s stomach twisted.

He walked toward her with an effortless confidence that made people instinctively move out of his way. She gripped the coffee pot tighter as he stopped just inches from her, his towering height making her tilt her head up.

“Elena Thompson?” His deep voice was smooth, but there was an edge to it—like a blade wrapped in silk.

She swallowed. “Who’s asking?”

A flicker of something amusement, maybe crossed his face before vanishing. “Your father owes me a debt.”

Her blood ran cold.

She had known this day would come, but she hadn’t expected it to arrive in the form of a man like him.

Elena straightened, forcing steel into her voice. “If you’re here for money, you’re wasting your time. I don’t have any.”

A slow, deliberate smirk touched his lips. “I’m not here for money.”

Dread settled like a weight in her chest. “Then what do you want?”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, setting it on the counter. She hesitated before picking it up. Her hands trembled slightly as she unfolded it and scanned the contents.

Her pulse roared in her ears.

A contract.

Marriage.

Her eyes snapped up to his, her breath shallow. “This—this is a joke, right?”

The man because he wasn’t just any man, she realized, but Alexander Calloway, a billionaire whose name carried power and influence, tilted his head slightly. “Your father lost everything. The only thing left to give was you.”

A chill ran down her spine. “He wouldn’t—”

“He did.”

She felt the room spinning. Her father had sold her. Not metaphorically. Not in some vague, desperate attempt to buy time. He had actually signed her away in marriage to a stranger to pay off his debts.

Elena’s fingers curled around the paper, crumpling it slightly. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Alexander didn’t flinch. “You don’t have a choice.”

Anger surged past the fear. She slammed the contract onto the counter. “The hell I don’t.”

His eyes darkened, and for a moment, she could have sworn something flickered in them something unreadable. Then, just as quickly, his expression hardened back into a mask of indifference.

“You can fight it,” he said, his voice infuriatingly calm. “But it won’t change the outcome.”

Elena clenched her jaw. This couldn’t be real. People didn’t just get sold off in modern-day New York like this was some twisted historical novel.

And yet, the evidence was right in front of her.

She forced herself to take a breath, her mind racing. There had to be a way out of this.

But as she stared at the man before her, the cold, composed billionaire who had just claimed ownership of her life she realized something.

She was trapped.

And the only way out… was through him.