Ayleen pushed open the heavy iron doors of the Doyle estate. She walked out like a corpse whose soul had been ripped away.

She stepped onto the Manhattan pavement just as the sky ripped open. Freezing rain battered her pale face. She didn't have an umbrella. She didn't care. Muddy water soaked the hem of her skirt as she dragged her feet forward.

A black, armored SUV tore around the street corner. Its massive tires hit a deep puddle, sending a violent wave of dirty water straight at Ayleen.

She tried to jump back, but her wet shoes slipped on the asphalt. She crashed hard onto the rough street. The skin on her palms tore open, bleeding into the rain.

The SUV's brakes shrieked. The tires skidded on the wet road, stopping mere inches from Ayleen's legs.

The driver, Arthur, threw his door open. He popped a black umbrella and rushed over to her.

Ayleen gritted her teeth and tried to stand. Pain shot up her right leg. Her ankle was swollen to the size of a baseball. She collapsed back into the freezing puddle.

Arthur hesitated. He walked to the rear window of the SUV and tapped respectfully on the tinted glass.

The window glided down an inch.

Cassius Doyle leaned his head against the leather headrest. His eyes were closed. His fingers rubbed his temples violently, trying to fight off a blinding migraine.

He didn't even open his eyes. "Put her in the car. Take her to a hospital. Don't leave a mess," he ordered, his voice laced with pure irritation.

Arthur nodded. He walked back, hauled Ayleen's shivering body up, and shoved her into the back seat.

The heavy door slammed shut. The cabin fell dead silent.

Ayleen pressed herself into the furthest corner of the leather seat. She kept her head down. The car was pitch black inside, illuminated only by the brief flashes of streetlights. All she could see were the razor-sharp creases of the man's suit pants next to her.

The AC blasted cold air. Ayleen's wet clothes clung to her skin. A violent shiver racked her body, and she let out a sharp, ragged gasp.

The sound echoed in the quiet car. Cassius's jaw ticked. He hated noise. He opened his mouth to tell her to shut up.

But then, the AC vents circulated the air.

A faint, delicate scent of roses mixed with rain drifted directly into Cassius's nose.

His entire body went rigid.

It was the scent. The exact same scent that had put him to sleep in the club.

His eyes snapped open. He whipped his head toward the corner, his gaze trying to pierce through the darkness.

Ayleen flinched at his sudden, aggressive movement. She shrank back, her wet hair falling forward to cover her face.

Cassius narrowed his eyes, trying to see her features. Just then, a massive bolt of lightning flashed outside. The blinding white light hit Cassius's eyes, causing a temporary blind spot.

When his vision cleared, Ayleen had buried her face deep into her arms. All he saw was her thin, trembling back.

The rage in Cassius's chest vanished. The scent wrapped around his brain, instantly killing his headache.

He didn't ask questions. He picked up a dry towel from the center console and held it out to her.

Ayleen saw the towel. She hesitated, then reached out.

Her freezing fingertips brushed against his knuckles.

An electric shock ripped through both of them. Cassius yanked his hand back as if he had been burned. His chest tightened.

"Thank you," Ayleen whispered.

Because of the fever and the crying, her voice was a harsh, broken rasp. It sounded absolutely nothing like the soft whimpers from that night.

Cassius heard the ugly voice. His brows furrowed deeply in the darkness. The scent was absolutely perfect, but the voice was entirely wrong. He didn't press her further, but a sharp seed of doubt had been planted firmly in his mind. He silently decided he would have Adrian run a full background check on this woman.

He leaned back, closed his eyes, and simply breathed in the scent.

The SUV pulled up to a subway station. Arthur opened the door. Ayleen clutched the towel and scrambled out of the car, limping heavily on her bad foot.

She stood under the station awning, her heart hammering against her ribs. The man in that car had terrified her.

Inside the SUV, Cassius watched her disappear. The scent in the cabin faded quickly. The sharp pain in his temples immediately flared up again.

He ripped his tie loose. "Drive to the office," he snapped at Arthur. A sudden, intense wave of disgust for Haleigh Delaney washed over him.

Haleigh Delaney pushed open the double doors of the CEO's office. She wore an absurdly expensive, tight-fitting couture suit and six-inch heels.

She carried a cup of black coffee, swaying her hips as she walked up to Cassius's massive desk.

"Sir," she purred, her voice dripping with fake sweetness.

Cassius was staring at a merger acquisition file on his monitor. He didn't look up. His brow twitched in annoyance.

Haleigh leaned over the desk to place the cup down, deliberately pushing her cleavage into his line of sight.

A wave of cheap, synthetic vanilla perfume hit Cassius's nose.

Bile rose in his throat. He kicked off the floor, rolling his chair back violently.

"Get that cheap trash out of my office," Cassius snarled, his eyes dark with disgust. "Get out."

Haleigh's face drained of color. She bit her lip, forcing tears into her eyes. Her hand flew to her neck, directly touching the silver rose necklace.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered, her voice trembling. "I just wanted to thank you for saving me that night."

Cassius saw the necklace. He forced the nausea down. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Leave the coffee. Get out."

Haleigh turned around. The second the office door clicked shut, her fake tears vanished, replaced by a triumphant smirk.

She walked into the executive restroom, pulled out her phone, and dialed Ayleen.

Ayleen was sitting on the floor of her empty apartment, packing her clothes into a cheap suitcase. She answered the phone.

"Looking for this?" Haleigh's mocking laughter echoed through the speaker.

"Where is my necklace, Haleigh?" Ayleen demanded, her knuckles turning white around the phone.

"It's mine now," Haleigh sneered. "Just like the Doyle empire will be mine. I'm going to be the lady of the house."

Ayleen's body trembled violently with sheer rage, but not a single word could escape her throat. Call the police? Who would even listen to her? She couldn't even protect her own basic freedom right now, let alone fight back to retrieve her mother's only relic. A profound, suffocating sense of powerlessness dug its claws deep into her chest.

Haleigh hung up.

Ayleen threw her phone against the mattress. She had lost her family, her freedom, and now her only memory of her mother.

Back in the CEO's office, Adrian knocked and entered. His face was grim. He held a red-stamped document from the legal department.

"Sir. We have a massive problem," Adrian said, his voice tight. He handed the file over with both hands.

Cassius snatched it. He flipped to the first page.

His eyes locked onto the "Spouse" line.

Ayleen Avery.

Stamped right next to it was the Doyle Family Trust's absolute seal of authority.

Cassius shot out of his chair. The heavy leather seat flew backward and smashed into the floor-to-ceiling window with a deafening crack.

He grabbed Adrian by the collar, lifting the man onto his toes. His eyes were bloodshot with pure, unadulterated rage.

"Who did this?" Cassius roared. "Who the hell authorized a marriage certificate?"

Adrian swallowed hard. "Madam Matilda, sir. She used the emergency mandate left by your grandfather. It's legally binding."

Cassius threw the document onto the floor. His chest heaved. He let out a dark, terrifying laugh that chilled the room.

He kicked the glass coffee table. It shattered instantly. Hot coffee soaked into the Persian rug.

Cassius pulled out his phone and dialed his private lawyer. "Draft divorce papers. Now. I don't care what it costs."

The lawyer's voice trembled through the speaker. "Sir, the trust stipulates that if you initiate a divorce, you forfeit thirty percent of your controlling shares."

Cassius's jaw locked. He hurled his phone at the wall. The device exploded into pieces.

He planted both hands on his desk. The veins in his arms bulged against his skin. He wanted to tear this Ayleen Avery apart with his bare hands.

He stood up straight and violently adjusted his cuffs.

"Get the car," Cassius ordered, his voice dropping to a lethal calm. "I'm going to the estate. I'm going to kill that old witch."

Adrian scrambled out of the room. The storm had broken.

The black Maybach didn't even slow down. It smashed straight through the wrought-iron gates of the Doyle estate. The tires screamed against the pavement as the car drifted to a halt in front of the main house.

Cassius kicked the door open. He marched up the marble steps, radiating pure, murderous intent.

Mr. Watts stepped forward to intercept him. Cassius shoved the butler aside so hard the man crashed into a stone pillar.

Cassius slammed both hands against the heavy double doors of the living room, throwing them open.

Matilda sat on a velvet sofa, calmly sipping her afternoon tea. She didn't flinch at the noise. She slowly placed her bone china teacup onto the saucer and looked up.

Cassius crossed the room in three strides. He slammed the crumpled marriage certificate onto the table right in front of her.

He leaned over, his face inches from hers. "Do not test me, Matilda," he hissed through his teeth.

Matilda chuckled. She picked up a silk napkin and dabbed her mouth. "You are making a fool of this family over a club waitress. The board is furious. You need a respectable wife to stabilize the stock."

"You want a puppet," Cassius sneered. "You want a spy in my bed so you can steal the company for your own son."

Matilda's eyes hardened, but her face remained smooth. "The ink is dry, Cassius. You will accept Ayleen."

Cassius stood up. He buttoned his suit jacket. "I will dump every share I own onto the open market tomorrow. I will burn this company to the ground before I let you control me."

Matilda's fingers stopped playing with her prayer beads. She stood up, walked to the wall safe, and punched in a code.

She pulled out a faded velvet box and opened it.

Inside lay a sapphire pendant. It was his dead mother's most treasured possession. The one thing Cassius had been hunting for ten years.

"If you break this marriage," Matilda said coldly, "I will smash this into dust right in front of your eyes."

Cassius's fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. A violent, bloodthirsty urge surged in his chest. He wanted to wrap his hands around her throat.

The room fell into a suffocating silence.

Cassius closed his eyes. He forced the rage down into his gut.

When he opened his eyes, they were dead. "Three months. A trial period."

He stepped closer. "If she asks for a divorce within three months, the trust clause is void, and you hand over the necklace."

Matilda calculated quickly. Ayleen's father's life was in her hands. The girl would never dare ask for a divorce.

"Deal," Matilda smiled.

Cassius didn't waste another second. He turned and walked toward the door.

He stopped at the threshold, looking over his shoulder. "I am going to make that woman's life a living hell."

He walked out.

An hour later, Ayleen stood outside the same iron gates. She was soaking wet, dragging a broken suitcase behind her.

Mr. Allen, the house manager, walked out with an umbrella. He opened the side gate. "Follow me, Miss."

Ayleen walked through the massive gardens. The sheer size of the gothic mansion suffocated her.

She was led into the cavernous living room. Mr. Allen told her to wait for the master of the house.

Ayleen gripped the handle of her suitcase. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She felt like a prisoner waiting for the executioner.

Suddenly, tires screeched outside. The front doors were shoved open violently.

Ayleen turned her head.

A towering, broad-shouldered man walked into the room. The air temperature plummeted instantly.