Audie pushed through the ballroom doors and practically sprinted down the hallway.

The thick, patterned carpet muffled her footsteps, but the heavy pounding of her heart echoed in her ears.

Her stomach clamped down in a violent spasm.

She slapped a hand over her mouth, fighting the sudden, intense urge to vomit right there in the corridor.

Behind her, the muffled thud of the ballroom doors swinging open vibrated through the floorboards.

"Audie! Wait!"

Ryder's desperate voice bounced off the high ceilings of the empty hallway.

She walked faster, her thumb digging ruthlessly into her wrist.

She reached the elevator bank and slammed her palm against the down button.

The metal doors slid open with a soft ping.

Just as she stepped inside, a hand shot out and clamped around her wrist like a vice.

Ryder yanked her backward.

Audie ripped her arm out of his grasp as if his skin were made of acid.

She looked at him, her eyes sweeping over his face like she was inspecting a piece of rotting garbage.

"Audie, please, you have to listen to me," Ryder hissed, keeping his voice low. "My parents forced this. It's for the merger."

A harsh, humorless laugh tore from Audie's throat.

"Don't lie to me," she snapped, stepping into his space. "I see the greed in your eyes, Ryder. You want the Bell money just as much as they do."

She stepped backward into the elevator.

Ryder threw his body forward, wedging his shoulder between the closing doors to force them back open.

He stumbled into the small, confined space of the elevator car.

The heavy scent of his Tom Ford cologne filled the air, a smell she used to love, but now it only made the bile rise in her throat again.

"I only love you," Ryder pleaded, reaching out to grab her waist. "Tatum means nothing."

Audie didn't think.

She raised her right hand and swung it with every ounce of strength she possessed.

Her palm connected with his cheek in a sharp, explosive crack.

The sound echoed violently off the metal walls of the elevator.

Ryder's head snapped to the side, a red mark instantly blooming across his jaw.

The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open to the ground floor lobby.

Audie shoved past his frozen body and marched straight out.

She pushed through the hotel's revolving glass doors.

The freezing, damp air of a late autumn New York night hit her face.

The rain was coming down in sheets, but she didn't care. She just walked straight into the downpour.

Ryder burst through the doors a second later, sprinting into the rain.

He jerking her to a halt.

"Are you crazy?" he yelled over the sound of the rain, his face twisted in anger. "You are making a scene! You are nothing without me!"

Audie stood in the freezing rain, the water plastering her hair to her cheeks.

"We are done," she said, her voice colder than the storm. "Go back to your little fiancée."

Ryder's face turned purple with rage.

He yanked her arm hard, trying to physically drag her back under the hotel awning.

Audie's wet heels slipped on the slick asphalt.

Her ankle gave out, and she stumbled sideways, bracing for the hard impact of the street.

Suddenly, twin beams of blinding white light sliced through the heavy rain, illuminating them perfectly.

A massive, pitch-black armored Maybach rolled forward, its deep engine purring like a predator.

It glided to a stop mere inches from where they stood.

The heavy tires rolled directly through a deep puddle.

A wave of dirty street water splashed up, soaking Ryder's custom leather shoes and the hem of his trousers.

Ryder let go of Audie and spun toward the car, his mouth opening to scream obscenities.

The tinted, bulletproof window of the rear passenger seat slowly rolled down, stopping at exactly one-third of the way.

The interior of the car was dark, but a pair of deep, predatory eyes locked onto Ryder through the narrow opening.

The sheer, suffocating weight of the authority radiating from the car hit Ryder like a physical blow.

His mouth snapped shut. He instinctively took a step back, his hands dropping to his sides.

A low, magnetic male voice drifted out from the dark interior of the Maybach.

"Get in the car."

Audie stood frozen in the freezing rain, her eyes locked on the narrow gap of the tinted window.

Ryder swallowed hard, his bravado completely shattered by the oppressive aura of the vehicle.

He took another step back, but his bruised ego forced him to speak.

"Who the hell are you?" Ryder stammered, his voice cracking. "Mind your own business."

The driver's side door of the Maybach popped open.

A massive man in a tailored black suit stepped out, a large black umbrella snapping open in his hands.

The bodyguard ignored Ryder entirely.

He walked straight to Audie, holding the umbrella over her head, instantly cutting off the freezing rain.

With his free hand, the bodyguard pulled open the heavy rear door of the Maybach and offered her a polite nod.

Audie glanced back at Ryder, who was standing in the puddle, looking pathetic and soaked.

She clenched her jaw, made a split-second decision, and ducked her head.

She climbed into the cavernous, luxurious back seat of the Maybach.

The heavy door clicked shut behind her, sealing out the noise of the storm and Ryder's existence.

The air inside the car was warm and dry.

It smelled incredible-a sharp, clean scent of cedarwood mixed with the faint, expensive linger of a cigar.

Audie perched awkwardly on the very edge of the seat, terrified her soaked trench coat would ruin the pristine leather.

She turned her head to look at the man sitting beside her.

The cabin was cloaked in shadows. She could only make out the sharp, aggressive line of his jaw and the broad width of his shoulders.

He was leaning back against the seat, his long legs stretched out, his large hands resting casually on his knees.

The Maybach accelerated smoothly, leaving Ryder standing alone in the downpour.

"Thank you," Audie whispered, her voice trembling slightly from the cold and the adrenaline crash.

The man didn't say a word.

He reached into a hidden compartment between the seats and pulled out a folded square of dark fabric.

He held out a clean, dry silk handkerchief toward her. His movements were fluid, almost practiced.

Audie reached out to take it.

As her fingers closed around the silk, her skin accidentally brushed against the back of his hand.

His skin was cool to the touch.

For a split second, the rhythmic sound of his breathing seemed to stop.

His head turned slightly, his dark eyes locking onto the side of her face with an intensity that made her stomach flip.

Audie quickly pulled her hand back and pressed the silk to her wet forehead.

The handkerchief smelled exactly like him-that intoxicating blend of cold cedar and smoke.

From the front seat, the driver's voice broke the silence. "Where to, sir?"

The man beside her shifted slightly.

"Your address," he said. His voice was a low rumble that vibrated through the floorboards.

"Brooklyn," Audie said, rattling off the street name of her rundown apartment building.

When she said the borough, she saw the man's brow furrow slightly in the shadows.

The car fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.

For ten minutes, the only sound was the rhythmic thump-thump of the windshield wipers pushing away the rain.

The proximity to this stranger was making Audie's skin prickle with an intense, unexplainable heat.

She needed to break the tension.

"I can pay you for the ride," Audie blurted out. "Or for the dry cleaning of the seat."

A low, deep chuckle vibrated from the man's chest.

The sound did strange things to Audie's pulse.

He turned his head fully toward her. As the car passed beneath a streetlamp, a flash of golden light illuminated his face.

His eyes were strikingly intense, framed by dark lashes.

"Keep your money," he said softly.

He looked away, staring out the window into the rain. "Just a business expense."

The Maybach slowed to a crawl.

It pulled up to the curb right in front of Audie's dilapidated brick apartment building.

The contrast between the million-dollar vehicle and the graffiti-covered stoop was jarring.

Audie pushed open the heavy, peeling wooden door of her apartment and stepped inside.

She reached out in the pitch black and slapped her hand against the wall switch.

The cheap ceiling light flickered twice, buzzing loudly before finally casting a harsh yellow glow over her tiny living room.

She peeled off her soaked trench coat and dropped it onto the worn fabric of her sofa.

She kicked off her wet heels, her bare feet hitting the cold linoleum floor.

Her eyes immediately landed on the coffee table.

Sitting right in the center was a ceramic mug with Ryder's initials on it.

A sharp, physical pain stabbed directly behind her ribs.

She walked over, grabbed the mug by the handle, and tossed it straight into the metal trash can by the kitchen counter.

It hit the bottom with a loud, hollow thud.

She didn't stop moving.

She marched into the tiny bathroom and ripped open the mirrored medicine cabinet.

She grabbed Ryder's electric toothbrush, his shaving cream, and his expensive razor, sweeping them all into a black plastic garbage bag.

She moved to the bedroom next.

She yanked open the closet doors and ripped his spare dress shirts off their hangers, throwing them into the bag.

She was moving like a machine, her face completely blank, her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths.

She opened the bottom drawer of her dresser to check for any stray socks.

Her hand brushed against a small, velvet box tucked in the back corner.

She pulled it out and flipped the lid open.

Inside sat a cheap, silver-plated necklace. It was the very first gift Ryder had ever given her.

Her fingers stopped moving.

A sudden, intense burning sensation hit the back of her eyes, but she refused to let a single tear fall.

She let out a dry, bitter laugh.

She tossed the necklace, box and all, into the very bottom of the black garbage bag.

She tied the plastic handles into a tight, aggressive knot.

Carrying the two heavy bags, she walked out of her apartment and down the narrow hallway.

She yanked open the heavy metal door of the building's trash chute.

She shoved both bags into the dark hole and let go.

She listened to the heavy plastic scraping against the metal pipes as it plummeted down into the dumpster below.

She exhaled a long, shaky breath, feeling a fraction of the weight lift off her chest.

When she walked back into her apartment, her cell phone was lighting up on the kitchen counter.

The screen displayed fourteen missed calls from Ryder.

Her face hardened into stone.

She tapped his contact name, scrolled to the bottom, and hit Block this Caller.

She walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet, splashing freezing cold water onto her face.

She gripped the edges of the porcelain sink and stared at her pale reflection in the mirror.

She slapped her own cheeks twice, hard, forcing the color back into her skin.

She walked over to her small desk and flipped open her MacBook.

The screen flared to life, illuminating her face in a stark white glow.

She opened her work email and downloaded the massive financial dossier for the Jarvis Dynamics merger.

As a junior analyst on Wall Street, this file was her only ticket out of this miserable life.

She forced her brain to shut down every personal emotion and stared at the rows of financial data.

At exactly 2:00 AM, a bright notification banner slid across the top right corner of her screen.

It was a new email.

The sender name read: Eleanor Bell.

The subject line was: Liam's Trust Fund Renewal Documents.

Audie's hand jerked. Her fingers clamped down on the plastic mouse so hard the joints popped.

She clicked the email open.

There was no greeting. Just a single, icy sentence: Call me tomorrow morning.

Audie knew exactly what this was.

It was the leash. The ultimate weapon her adoptive family used to keep her in line.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against her chair.

The heavy, suffocating pressure of the storm had finally arrived inside her apartment.