The champagne in my glass tasted like lies.
From across the ballroom, my fiancé, Ethan Cole, flashed that charming smile everyone adored.
Everyone... except me.
Because I had just heard him sell me.
Not metaphorically. Not in some twisted romantic way.
He had literally promised me to another man.
"...the debt will be cleared once she's yours," Ethan's voice had murmured behind the velvet curtain. "She'll marry you, and my father's company will be safe."
I'd frozen, every drop of blood draining from my face.
"Good," a deep, cold voice had replied. "I don't like games, Cole. Tomorrow night, she comes with me."
It was the kind of voice that didn't ask for things.
It took them.
I'd peeked through the curtain... and my stomach twisted.
Tall. Broad shoulders. Black suit tailored like armor.
Eyes like silver blades that found me in the crowd as if he knew I was listening.
The moment our gazes locked, my heart stopped.
That was the man I was being sold to.
And he didn't look human.
"Lila," Ethan's voice snapped me out of my trance. He'd returned to my side, all charm and empty warmth. "Smile, sweetheart. This is our night."
Our night.
The words burned.
I lifted my glass, forcing my lips into something that might pass for a smile. Inside, my mind raced.
Who was that man?
Why did his presence feel like a cage closing around me?
And why, deep down, did a strange part of me whisper that running... wouldn't be enough