A man I used to trust. Who was my best friend before⁠—

I didn’t let myself think about him anymore. It made my chest ache and my veins burn with anger.

She’d been brought up to be the perfect daughter. Horseback riding lessons, gymnastics, etiquette classes. She’d go to every gala, every party, and always dressed in the latest and most expensive designers of our time.

She’d literally been bred for this world before her father ruined it all. She might have once belonged in this room, but she was like a fish out of water now and woefully unprepared for what the men attending wanted to do to her.

I had seen her when she was younger. Watched as she flirted with the socialites and attached herself to her dad’s arm.

She’d been innocent. Perfect for a trust fund billionaire with a clean face who would marry her just for the heirs she could breed.

I’d wanted her once. But all I wanted to do now was destroy her pretty little image. Force her onto her knees. Make those eyes burn with the kind of desire she’d hate herself for.

Or destroy whatever was left of her image. She deserved it.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” I growled, my gaze cutting to Maxwell.

His expression was normally reserved, but there was a smirk on his face.

“She needs money, just like every other girl here.”

Anger raged through me. But it was dulling by the second and being replaced with a dangerous need for the girl.

A need to ruin her. A need to own her. A need to hear her sweet apologies drop from those pink, plump lips.

The same lips I’d tasted only once in my lifetime but never forgot.

She was sweet as sin, forbidden, and way too young for me, even back then.

But after what she pulled?

I didn’t give a fuck about that anymore.

“Will you buy her?” Dante asked, his tone somewhat hesitant.

“Did you do this on purpose?” I asked. “Are you trying to get fired?”

I shouldn’t get involved with her again. Nothing good would come of it. But now that she was right in front of me? I didn’t have it in me to stop myself.

Maxwell let out a warm chuckle.

“You won’t fire me,” he said.

No, I won’t.

I cursed internally. Without knowing, they’d given me the best gift. But also the greatest curse because there was no way I’d be letting her go.

At least not until I had paid her back in full for all those lies that she’d spewed about me.

I imagined her on her knees, hands tied behind her back, her face messy, painted with my cum as she begged for forgiveness.

She’ll look so beautiful when she’s finally knocked down a peg.

My cock hardened just thinking about it.