Bought by the Billionaire Devil

I balanced the brown paper bag of takeout in one arm while fishing for my keys with the other. The long day at the architecture firm had left my shoulders tight with tension, but tonight would make it all worthwhile. Lucas had texted earlier, asking me to pick up dinner from our favorite Thai place—the one where we'd had our first date. Two years together, and he still remembered little details like that. The thought warmed me as I finally located my keys at the bottom of my purse.

The apartment was oddly quiet when I pushed the door open. Usually, Lucas would have music playing or the TV on—background noise he claimed helped him think while working on his investment portfolios.

"Lucas?" I called out, setting the food on the small entryway table. "I got the drunken noodles you like, extra spicy."

That's when I noticed them. A pair of nude stiletto heels carelessly discarded by the door. My stomach dropped. I recognized those shoes—the red soles, the particular shade of nude leather that Jessica had spent weeks hunting down because they were "investment pieces."

My best friend's shoes. In my apartment.

Before my mind could form a rational explanation, I heard it—laughter. Intimate, conspiratorial laughter drifting from the bedroom. *Our* bedroom.

My feet moved without conscious command, carrying me down the hallway that suddenly seemed miles long. The bedroom door wasn't fully closed, a strip of light spilling onto the hallway carpet. I pushed it open, and the world I thought I knew shattered.

Lucas was scrambling to pull on his pants, his chest still bare. And there on our bed—the bed where I'd slept beside him just last night—was Jessica. She was propped against my pillows, the sheet barely covering her naked body, a cigarette dangling between her manicured fingers. She knew I hated smoking in the apartment.

"Emily," Lucas said, not meeting my eyes as he zipped his pants. There was no shame in his voice. No remorse. Just mild annoyance at being interrupted.

"What is this?" My voice sounded distant, like it belonged to someone else.

Jessica took a long drag from her cigarette, blowing the smoke toward the ceiling. "Oh, honey," she said, her lips curving into a smirk that didn't reach her eyes. "I think it's pretty obvious what *this* is."

The casual cruelty in her tone made my knees weak. This woman had been my best friend since college. She'd held my hand at my father's funeral. She knew about my mother's cancer diagnosis before anyone else. She'd been my confidante, my sister in everything but blood.

"How long?" I managed to ask, my throat constricting around the words.

Lucas sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Does it matter?"

"Six months," Jessica answered, examining her nails with feigned boredom. "Though if we're being honest, it's been brewing since before you two even got together. We just...reconnected recently."

The room spun. Six months. Half a year of lies. Of planning dinners with them both. Of confiding my hopes and fears about my relationship to the very person destroying it.

"Why?" I whispered, though I wasn't sure who I was asking.

Lucas moved to the dresser, pulling out a folder. His movements were methodical, businesslike. "We need to talk about something else, Emily. Something important."

"More important than you sleeping with my best friend?" The shock was giving way to anger now, hot and clarifying.

"Actually, yes." He extended the folder toward me. "This is a transfer contract. I need you to sign it."

I didn't take it. "What are you talking about?"

"I owe Dante Sterling two million dollars," Lucas said flatly. "A business deal went south. I can't pay it back, not in cash anyway."

"And what does that have to do with me?" The dread in my stomach grew heavier.

Lucas's expression hardened. "You're the payment, Emily. Or rather, you're what he's willing to accept as payment."

The world stopped. "What?"

"It's a marriage contract," he continued, as if discussing the weather. "Three years as Dante Sterling's wife. He clears my debt, and you get a nice settlement when it's over. Everyone wins."

"Everyone except me," I said, my voice rising. "You're *selling* me? Like property?"

Jessica laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "Oh please, it's not like you haven't fantasized about being with someone like Dante Sterling. Every woman has. Now you get to live it."

"You're insane. Both of you." I backed toward the door. "I'm not signing anything. And I'm going to tell everyone what you've done—the affair, this... this human trafficking scheme. Everyone will know."

Lucas's face darkened. He crossed the room in two strides, gripping my arm with painful force. "You breathe a word of this to anyone, and your mother's treatment stops tomorrow. Who do you think has been covering those experimental therapies the insurance won't touch? That clinical trial in Boston? Me."

The blood drained from my face. My mother's cancer had responded to the new treatment. It was working. She was getting better.

"You wouldn't," I whispered.

"Try me," he hissed, his handsome face twisted with a cruelty I'd never seen before. "Sign the contract, Emily. Be a good girl for once in your life."

Jessica slid out of bed, wrapping herself in my robe—the silk one Lucas had given me for Christmas. She padded over to us, her expression almost pitying as she leaned close to my ear.

"You might as well make it easy on yourself," she whispered. "Dante Sterling is going to own you either way. And trust me, he won't fall for your innocent victim act. Men like him see right through women like you."

Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not in front of these monsters wearing the faces of people I'd loved. I wrenched my arm from Lucas's grip and ran for the door.

I made it to the living room before the front door burst open. Two men in black suits filled the doorway, their expressions impassive. Security guards, with the distinctive Sterling Industries pin on their lapels.

"Ms. Williams," the taller one said. "Mr. Sterling is waiting for you."

I turned back, desperate for another escape route, only to see Lucas and Jessica watching from the hallway. Lucas had his arm around her waist now, not bothering to hide their intimacy.

"You can't do this," I said, my voice breaking. "You can't just trade me like... like I'm nothing."

"But you are nothing, Emily," Lucas said, his tone almost gentle. "You always were. I just needed you until something better came along."

The guards moved forward, each taking one of my arms. I struggled, but their grip was firm, professional. They'd done this before.

"Let me go!" I shouted, kicking as they lifted me slightly off the ground, carrying me toward the door.

The last thing I saw before they dragged me from my own apartment was Lucas turning Jessica toward him on the balcony, kissing her deeply as my world collapsed around me.

"Finally," I heard him murmur against her lips. "Some peace and quiet."

The door closed behind us, sealing away the life I'd thought was mine.