PROLOGUE
The Day Everything Broke
There are two kinds of grief.
The first comes when someone dies.
The second comes when they are still alive, but no longer the person you thought they were.
At twenty-three years old, Seraphina Reyes experienced both on the same day.
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The courtroom smelled like old paper and broken promises.
Every seat was occupied.
Reporters filled the back rows.
Cameras flashed relentlessly.
Whispers traveled through the room like wildfire.
Seraphina sat motionless, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
If she loosened her grip, she feared she might fall apart.
At the center of the courtroom stood her father.
The man who used to carry her on his shoulders.
The man who taught her how to ride a bicycle.
The man who promised he would always protect her.
Now he stood in handcuffs.
Convicted.
Exposed.
A criminal.
The judge’s voice echoed through the chamber.
But Seraphina heard almost nothing.
The words blurred together.
Fraud.
Embezzlement.
Stolen investments.
Victims.
Millions of dollars.
Lives destroyed.
Her father’s victims sat only a few feet away.
Some were crying.
Some looked angry.
Some looked broken.
One elderly woman held a photograph of her late husband.
A husband who had lost everything because he trusted the wrong man.
Because he trusted Seraphina’s father.
A wave of nausea hit her.
She wanted to disappear.
To sink into the floor.
To escape the suffocating shame wrapping itself around her chest.
Then her father’s eyes found hers.
For a moment, she searched desperately for regret.
For remorse.
For an apology.
Anything.
Instead, he looked away.
As if she wasn’t even there.
As if she didn’t exist.
As if losing his daughter was nothing compared to losing his freedom.
Something inside her shattered.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Permanently.
That was the moment she realized she had already lost him long before the judge delivered his sentence.
The man she loved had disappeared long ago.
The criminal standing before her was a stranger.
And strangers don’t break your heart.
The people you trust do.
⸻
Across the city, several miles away, another heart was breaking.
Though no one could see it.
Because billionaires weren’t supposed to break.
⸻
Rain poured relentlessly over rows of black umbrellas.
The cemetery was silent except for distant thunder.
Alexander Knight stood beside a polished mahogany coffin.
His father’s coffin.
The cameras stayed far away.
The guests kept their distance.
No one dared approach him.
Not today.
Not when his expression looked carved from stone.
The newspapers would later describe him as composed.
Strong.
Unshaken.
They were wrong.
Alexander felt nothing.
Or perhaps he felt too much.
For years he had waited for this moment.
The death of Victor Knight.
The man who built an empire.
The man who ruled through fear.
The man who spent thirty-three years reminding his son of one simple truth.
“Your mother died because of you.”
The words still haunted him.
Every birthday.
Every achievement.
Every failure.
Every success.
No matter how much money Alexander earned.
No matter how many companies he saved.
No matter how many lives he changed.
He was still that little boy standing in a mansion hallway while his father blamed him for something he could never control.
The priest continued speaking.
Alexander barely listened.
Because his gaze remained fixed on the coffin.
Waiting.
Hoping.
For something.
A feeling.
Relief.
Anger.
Closure.
Anything.
But there was only emptiness.
And somehow, that hurt even more.
As mourners slowly left the cemetery, Alexander remained behind.
Alone.
The rain soaked through his black suit.
Still, he didn’t move.
For the first time in his life, there was no one left to impress.
No one left to fear.
No one left to blame.
Only silence.
And a loneliness so profound it felt endless.
⸻
That night, neither Seraphina Reyes nor Alexander Knight slept.
One sat alone in a tiny apartment, staring at a family photograph she could no longer bear to look at.
The other sat alone in a penthouse overlooking the city, unable to stop hearing the ghosts of words spoken decades ago.
Neither knew the other existed.
Neither knew fate had already begun writing their story.
A story born from betrayal.
Built on lies.
And destined to change both their lives forever.
Because five years later, a billionaire desperate to save his empire would offer a struggling lawyer an impossible proposal.
A proposal neither of them could afford to refuse.
And somewhere between pretending to be in love…
They would discover the truth.
The most dangerous lies are the ones that start feeling real.
⸻
Five Years Later…
“I need a fiancée.”
And just like that—
Everything began.
