. It was a prenuptial agreement, its language cold, precise

feel dizzy. "Marry you? Mr. Ste

not make expensive jokes. Five million for the surgery, plus the three hundred and forty million

. It was a recent picture of her father, asleep in h

e flat but carrying a lethal weig

ce of her father's fading life, her pride, her dignity, her future

o have no say in his personal life. She could not disclose the nature of their transactional arrangement. She wo

riage contract. It

rcing gray gaze, searching for

ou will silence the old guard in my family who disapprove of my lifestyle. And," he added, his

evastating. She was merely a convenience. A pre

ble spark of joy ignited in her chest. She was actually going to marry Julian Sterling. The ma

a hand that shook only slightly, s

ry, Julian pressed a but

immediately. Fly in Dr. Evans from Boston if you have t

what she had just done, her father's life was no longer in jeopardy. The crushing weight

it jacket, straightening his cuffs. "Let's

s deep baritone, sent a vio

te elevator. This time, a sleek, understated Maybach was wai

towards New Y

of happy, nervous couples. Everything had been meticulously arranged

ristocratic face to Seraphina's pale, stunn

s cold, handsome profile. He turned his head slightly, his stormy gray eyes locking onto h

clear, like the closing of a

nd, she felt her life had irrevocably derailed. She wa

sion hardened instantly as he listened. A sudden cr

card and a single, cold key into her palm. "This is yours. Use

nded like a mockery

hen he got into a trailing SUV and was gone, lea

cold paper of her marriage certificate. It felt like a b

building on Central Park West, its sec

as vast, decorated in shades of gray and white with minimalist, brutally e

reathtaking, god-like view of Central Park. But the beauty was

, the sheer, overwhelming unreality of marrying her secret crush, it all crashed down o

her vision faded to absolute black, she heard the heavy front door click o