The Runaway Asset: Betraying My Billionaire Father

st more than most people earned in a decade. The silk of the couture engagement dress clung to her ribs like a second skin, white and pristine. But inside that expensive casin

id not knock. Privacy was a luxury Elodie had lost t

f the dress for imperfections rather than looking at her daughter's fac

ones in her spine cracked audibly. She

odie asked. Her voic

, dismissing the questi

is on the podium by eight. The Senator is alread

r fingers cold and dry. Then she turned and left, leaving the scent

ng in. She walked to the balcony doors and pushed them open. The November air of New York City

e of the engagement party starting on the terrace bene

one rumble she knew better than her ow

cold stone divider of the balcony. He was

said. His voice had that smooth, sha

her voice said. Senator Clay. Kad

It was a dry, h

a union, Clay. It is an acquisition. She is the final asset needed to seal th

breathing. He

se

er. Not br

dhood friend. She had convinced herself that they could make it work, that there was some affection there. But

e was a bargaining c

re trembling. She gripped the stone r

on the balcony table. She picked it up, her mo

en

was a photo of him at a tech summit in Las Vegas. He looked devastatingly hands

ot coming to save her. He

e silent rejection of the man she actually wanted snapped somethin

went to the back of the walk-in closet and pulled out a nondescript black duffel bag. It wa

re dress. It fell to the floor in a puddle of whit

s and a gray hoodie. She looked i

sabled the GPS. Then she turned it off and left it on the vanity

t a burner phone she had bought

ain hallway. She took the service elevator. I

e party. No one looked at the girl in the hoodie. They w

and hit the sidewalk. She raised her

told th

cked and smelled of stale tobacco. It wa

ic, she typed a single text

eathe. Do no

card out of the burner phone and dro

For the next few hours, she was Ma