Ella had lost everything. After her mother’s accident, her father married someone else and pushed her aside, choosing his new family over her. Her friends slowly left, and she was left to deal with everything alone. She spent all her money to keep her mother on life support. Now, she was broke, exhausted, and barely holding on.

Then Nicholas showed up.

He was a stranger—handsome, confident, and calm. But what shocked her most was the marriage certificate he brought. According to him, they got married in Vegas. The problem? Ella doesn’t remember it at all.

She already has too much to deal with—her sick mom, the hospital bills, and her fiancé, who has been her only support. She can’t afford to lose him now.

But Nicholas won’t go away. He says he’s her husband, and he wants her to come with him. Ella feels drawn to him in a way she can’t explain. He sees through her like no one else does.

She knows she should walk away. She knows she should stay with the safe life she’s trying to hold on to. But something about Nicholas pulls her in—and she’s scared he might break her in the end.

Nicholas stood on the balcony of the penthouse, his phone pressed to his ear, voice low and cold.


"No, I don't want excuses. I want eyes on him by nightfall. And I don't care if you have to turn the city upside down to get it done."


"No. No bruises unless I say so. I want him breathing when I see him."


He hung up without waiting for a reply.


Nicholas let the phone drop into his pocket and stared out at the skyline for a moment, trying to calm the storm brewing inside him. Every time he thought about Ella on that floor—bleeding, unconscious, barely breathing—his vision blurred with rage.


But inside that room just beyond the glass doors was the one person he had to keep calm for. The one person he'd put everything aside for.


Chapter 23 - Spoil you