Chapter1
Aurora Vale – POV
The night I decided to ruin the Cross family forever, I wore red.
Not the gentle crimson of roses or the soft shimmer of rubies—no, I wore blood red. The kind that dared you to look twice, the kind that warned you'd bleed if you touched. It clung to my body like sin, stitched from vengeance and silk, and it turned every head at the Manhattan gala meant to celebrate the people who had destroyed my life.
Including his.
Kai Cross.
He stood across the ballroom with his hands buried in his pockets, jaw clenched, watching me like I was something dangerous.
Good.
Because I was.
"I’d spent six years living in the ashes of my father’s downfall, choking on whispers and pitying glances. “Edward Vale? The embezzler? The one who died in prison?” As if they didn’t know he’d been framed. As if the Cross family didn’t press the match into his hand and light the fuse.
Lucian Cross took everything from us. Our company. Our name. Our peace.
Now, I would take his son.
“Don’t look so tense,” Lizzy whispered beside me, sipping champagne with effortless grace. “You’ve got him exactly where you want him.”
“Do I?” I murmured, eyes still locked on Kai.
He hadn’t looked away.
Dark suit. Darker eyes. Expressions unreadable.
He was beautiful in a lethal way, like a knife you couldn’t see until it was at your throat.
But tonight, he was mine to play.
I excused myself from the crowd and moved through the ballroom like a ghost—floating, smiling, charming. Until I reached the bar, just close enough to let my voice carry when I ordered something sharp.
“Scotch. Neat. Something bitter.”
His voice came from behind me before I could take a sip.
“You don’t strike me as the bitter type.”
I turned slowly. “And you don’t strike me as the type to talk to strangers.”
His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Then it’s a good thing you’re not a stranger.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “We’ve met before?”
“No. But I know who you are.” He leaned in, lowering his voice. “Aurora Vale. The heiress without an empire.”
I should have flinched.
Instead, I smiled. “And you must be Kai Cross. The devil with a trust fund.”
He laughed. Just once. A low, amused sound that made the hairs on my neck rise.
“What are you doing here, Aurora?”
“Looking for a deal,” I said simply.
He narrowed his eyes. “What kind of deal?”
“The kind where we both win.” I turned my glass slowly in my hand. “You want positive press. I want power. Marry me.”
The silence between us stretched so thin I thought it might break.
Then he said, “You’re not serious.”
“Oh, I’m dead serious. We make it public. A merger of names and legacies. It’ll make your stockholders swoon.”
“And what do you get?”
“Your last name,” I said. “And a seat at the table.”
He tilted his head. “What’s your angle?”
I stepped closer, let the scent of my perfume wrap around him like a whisper. “Why don’t you marry me and find out?”
Another silence. Longer this time. His gaze dropped to my mouth.
And then, softly: “You’re playing a dangerous game, Aurora Vale.”
I met his eyes, pulse pounding. “So play it with me.”
“Fine. I’ll marry you. But make no mistake, Aurora—when I take something, I don’t give it back.”
