The billionaire's Contract

Chapter 3

POV: Leonard

The champagne tastes like nothing.

I've been standing at the edge of the Temple of Dendur for forty-seven minutes, and I've already counted the light fixtures, categorized the guests by net worth, and calculated how many minutes of my life I'll never get back. The answer, I'm sure, is too many.

My mother Victoria has been circling me like a shark all night, steering eligible heiresses in my direction like I'm a prize stallion at auction. I've smiled. I've nodded. I've said the right things. That's what I do. I say what's expected. I perform the role. I'm very good at it.

But inside, I feel nothing.

"Leonard, darling." My mother appears at my elbow, her silver gown shimmering under the chandeliers. "Have you met Marissa Van Der Meer? Her father owns half of Amsterdam's shipping industry. She's single, intelligent, and absolutely charming."

"Mother." My voice is flat. "I've met Marissa. She's twenty-three years old, she has a trust fund, and she spent our entire conversation talking about her yachts."

"She's wealthy. She's connected. She would be a suitable match."

"I don't want a suitable match. I don't want a match at all."

"Your father is dying, Leonard." Her voice sharpens like a blade. "His final wish is to see you married. Do you understand what that means? It means I will do everything in my power to make sure you are not alone when he passes. I won't have you drowning in grief without someone to hold your hand."

"I don't need anyone to hold my hand."

"Everyone needs someone. Even you."

She walks away before I can respond, and I find myself gripping my champagne glass so hard the stem threatens to crack. My father is dying. My mother is desperate. And I am supposed to find a wife the way I find a business merger, through careful analysis and strategic acquisition.

But I don't want a wife. I don't want anything. I don't feel anything.

Until I hear her.

"Are you saying I'm arrogant?"

The voice cuts through the noise of the gala like a blade. Sharp. Fierce. Utterly unafraid. I turn my head, and I see her.

She's standing near the bar, a woman in a red dress that screams defiance. She's not tall. She's not trying to be invisible. She's holding her ground against Richard Blake, who is one of the most insufferable men I've ever had the misfortune of meeting.

And she's destroying him.

"I'm saying you called a woman who lost her career to a devastating injury 'the girl who couldn't make it.' That's not arrogant. That's cruel. And cruel men don't make good leaders. They make good cautionary tales."

Richard's face goes pale. He sputters something unintelligible. She steps closer, her voice dropping low, and I can't hear what she says, but I watch the color drain from his face.

I watch her walk away, and I realize I'm still holding my breath.

I've spent the last hour being bored by the wealthiest people in the world. I've been paraded in front of women who smile too wide and laugh too loud and say exactly what they think I want to hear. But this woman—this woman in the red dress with the fire in her eyes. she said exactly what she meant. She didn't care who was listening. She didn't care about the consequences.

She was magnificent.

I make my way toward her without thinking. I don't have a plan. I don't have a strategy. I just need to see her up close. I need to understand why someone so small can command so much attention.

She's at the bar, sipping champagne, her back to me. Her friend is speaking, but she's not really listening. She's looking at her reflection in the mirror behind the bar, and I see the exhaustion in her eyes. The weight. The worry.

She's not one of these people. She doesn't belong here. But she's fighting like she does.

I step closer. She senses me before she sees me. She turns, and our eyes meet.

I've seen a lot of things in my life. I've seen billion-dollar deals signed with a handshake. I've seen empires rise and fall. I've seen the world at my feet, offering everything I could ever want.

I've never seen eyes like hers.

Dark brown, deep, blazing with something I can't name. She looks at me like I'm a puzzle she's trying to solve, and I realize I'm doing the exact same thing.

"Who are you?" she asks, and her voice is guarded. Suspicious. She's been burned before. I can see it in the way she holds her shoulders, the way she's already preparing to fight.

"Leonard Kingsley." I hold out my hand. She stares at it like it might bite her.

She takes it. Her grip is firm. Calloused. A working woman's hand.

"Glory Daniels," she says.

"I know." I don't smile. I'm not trying to charm her. "I saw what you did to Richard Blake."

"Richard Blake deserved what he got."

"He did." I pause. "But you're a small woman in a crowded room. Most people would have smiled and walked away. You chose to fight."

Her jaw tightens. "Are you saying I should have smiled and walked away?"

"I'm saying you have fire. I'm not used to seeing fire in rooms like this. Most people here are ash."

"Is that a compliment?"

"It's an observation." I step closer. "You're not like the others. You're not here for the champagne or the charity. You're here to work. To survive. I can see it in the way you hold yourself. You're a predator, not prey."

She laughs, and the sound is sharp and bright and utterly unexpected. "That's the most ridiculous thing anyone has ever said to me. And I have Richard Blake telling me I'm a failure."

"You're not a failure."

"You don't know me."

"No." I tilt my head. "But I want to."

She freezes. The air between us shifts, grows heavy. I can feel her studying me now, the same way I studied her. She's trying to figure out if I'm a threat or an opportunity. I'm trying to figure out the same thing about her.

"Why do you want to know me?" she asks, her voice carefully neutral. "I'm nobody. I don't have money. I don't have connections. I don't have anything you want."

"Maybe I'm the one who wants something I can't have."

"I don't do games."

"I don't play games." I mean it. "I'm a businessman. I make deals. I don't have time for games."

"Then what do you want?"

I should have an answer. I always have an answer. I've spent my whole life knowing exactly what I want and exactly how to get it.

But right now, looking at Glory Daniels in her red dress with her fire in her eyes, I have no idea.

"Three words," I say finally. "That's all I want."

"Three words?"

"Three words that describe why you're really here. And if you lie, I'll know."

She looks at me for a long moment. I watch her wrestle with herself. She wants to dismiss me, but she's curious, and curiosity is a dangerous thing.

"Mama is dying," she says quietly. "Bright is drowning. I'm the only one who can save them. That's why I'm here. Not for myself. For them."

It's the honest answer I didn't expect. Most people lie. They spin. They put on a show. But she just told me the truth without hesitation.

"Three words," I say again, but softer now. "Why did you tell me that?"

"Because you asked." She shrugs. "And because I have nothing left to lose."

She's going to walk away now. I can see it in the way her shoulders tense. She's done with this conversation. She's ready to fight another battle.

But I'm not ready to let her go.

"Glory." My voice stops her. "I'm going to find you again."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise." I step back, pulling away. "You're not nobody. And I think, in the end, you might be the only real person in this room."

I turn around and walk away before she can respond. My heart is pounding in a way it hasn't pounded in years. My hands are shaking. I feel alive. Truly alive, for the first time in a decade.

I walk to my mother, who is waiting at the edge of the room with a knowing smile.

"You were talking to that woman," she says. "The one in the red dress. She's not one of us."

"I know."

"She's not suitable."

"I know." I look back over my shoulder. Glory Daniels is walking away, her head held high, her back straight. "She's something else."

"Leonard." My mother's voice sharpens. "She's not"

"Mother." I cut her off. "I know exactly who she is. And I think she might be exactly what I need."

I walk away before she can argue. I have a meeting tomorrow. I have a

contract to draft. I have a woman to find.

Glory Daniels.

She has no idea what's about to happen to her.

But I'm going to change her life forever.