His Reckless Love, Her Shattered Life

For twelve years, my life wasn't my own. It belonged to Dawson Parks.

I was sold to his family at sixteen to pay for my mother's cancer treatments, becoming the tech heir's companion, his secretary, and eventually, his lover.

Then his childhood sweetheart, Kenzie, came back to town. He told me he was going to marry her and offered me a severance package-a few million dollars for twelve years of my life.

Chapter 1

For twelve years, Ellery Evans' s life was not her own. It belonged to Dawson Parks.

It started when she was sixteen. Her father' s construction company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and her mother had just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. The treatments were astronomically expensive, a cost the Evans family could no longer afford.

Her father, a weak and selfish man, saw an opportunity in their tragedy. He knew the Parks family, a dynasty built on a tech empire, was looking for a companion for their youngest heir, Dawson.

Dawson was thirteen, a handsome but volatile boy who had just lost his own mother. He was acting out, and his family wanted someone to stabilize him. Someone smart, patient, and mature for her age.

Her father sold her. He framed it as a sacrifice for the family, for her mother' s life. He used his wife' s illness to emotionally blackmail Ellery, and she, a terrified sixteen-year-old, agreed. The Parks family paid off her father' s debts and covered her mother' s medical bills. In exchange, Ellery became Dawson' s shadow.

She was his companion, his tutor, his keeper. As they grew older, the lines blurred. She became his personal secretary, managing his chaotic life and his role in the family company. Then, one night, fueled by alcohol and a broken heart, he pulled her into his bed. She became his lover, too.

It was just another part of the job.

She was sharp, resilient, and pragmatic. She performed her duties flawlessly, becoming indispensable to him. To the outside world, she was the devoted woman who had captured the heart of the tech empire' s heir.

They were wrong.

Ellery did not love Dawson Parks. She saw him for what he was: an immature, possessive boy who was utterly dependent on her. He took her for granted, believing her unwavering presence was born from love, not a contract.

He was obsessed with someone else.

Kenzie Mclaughlin. His childhood sweetheart. The one who got away. For years, he spoke of her, of her purity, her sweetness, of the perfect, idealized love they shared before she moved away.

Now, Kenzie was coming back.

Ellery found the flight confirmation email in Dawson' s inbox. Kenzie Mclaughlin. Arriving tomorrow.

That night, the air in his penthouse was thick with a frantic energy. Clothes were strewn across the floor, and empty bottles littered the coffee table. Dawson was a whirlwind of motion, pacing, pulling things from his closet, then tossing them aside.

He was humming, a cheerful, tuneless sound that grated on Ellery' s nerves.

He stopped, turning to her with a wide, boyish grin that didn' t reach his eyes. He grabbed her, pulling her into a rough, possessive kiss. His hands were everywhere, tangling in her hair, sliding down her back. It was a kiss of ownership, not affection. She endured it, just as she had endured everything else for the past twelve years.

He pulled back, his breath hot against her cheek.

"She' s coming back, El," he whispered, his voice vibrating with an excitement she hadn' t heard in years. "Kenzie. She' s finally coming back."

Ellery felt nothing. Just a quiet, final click in her mind. This was it. The end of her sentence.

Dawson saw the placid look on her face and mistook it for acceptance. He beamed, his relief palpable.

"I knew you' d understand," he said, stroking her hair. "You' ve always been the most understanding."

The words were meant as a compliment. To Ellery, they were the bars of her cage.

"I' m going to marry her, El. I' ve loved her since we were kids."

He finally said it. The words that had been an unspoken truth between them for over a decade.

Ellery' s expression didn' t change. She met his gaze in the dim light.

"I know."

Her calm response seemed to please him. He saw it as proof of her devotion, her willingness to step aside for his happiness.

"I' ll take care of you, of course," he said, his tone becoming businesslike. "I' ll give you a house. A car. A few million. Enough for you to live comfortably for the rest of your life."

It was a severance package. A golden parachute for twelve years of her life.

"Okay," she said.

He frowned, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. He seemed to want a different reaction. Tears, maybe. A fight. Something to prove she cared.

"You' ll still be my secretary, though, right?" he asked, his hand tightening on her arm. "I need you. You know I can' t function without you."

She looked at his hand on her arm, then back at his face. She was about to tell him no, that their contract was over, that she was finally, blessedly free.

But his phone rang, shattering the moment.

The screen lit up with a name: Kenzie.

Dawson' s entire demeanor shifted. The possessiveness he showed her melted away, replaced by a soft, eager smile. He let go of Ellery as if she were a hot coal.

"Kenzie," he answered, his voice a gentle caress. "Are you at the airport?... No, of course I' m not busy. I' m on my way."

He hung up and grabbed his keys, not even giving Ellery a backward glance.

"Clean this up, will you?" he called over his shoulder as he rushed out the door. "I' ll be back late."

The door slammed shut, leaving Ellery in the sudden, deafening silence.

She stood motionless for a long moment. Then, with the methodical efficiency that had defined her life, she began to tidy the penthouse. She picked up his discarded clothes, collected the empty bottles, and wiped down the sticky surfaces. It was a familiar, mindless routine.

When the place was spotless, she went to the bedroom. She opened her side of the closet and pulled out a small duffel bag. It contained everything that was truly hers in this place: a few changes of clothes, a worn copy of her favorite book, and a faded photograph of her mother.

Her mother had passed away two months ago. Her death was a quiet, sorrowful affair, but for Ellery, it was also a release. The primary chain that bound her to Dawson was broken.

Her phone buzzed. It was her father.

"Ellery! Dawson called. He said he' s giving you a house and five million dollars! My God, we' re set for life! Your brother' s business can finally expand!"

His voice was giddy, filled with a greed that made her stomach turn.

Ellery' s voice was cold, devoid of any emotion.

"That money has nothing to do with you."

"What are you talking about?" her father spluttered. "Of course it does! It' s for the family! For your sacrifice!"

"My sacrifice is over," she said, her voice like ice. "The deal was for Mom' s medical bills. She' s gone. The contract is terminated."

"Ellery, don' t be a fool!" he shrieked, his voice turning shrill. "You can' t leave him! I forbid it! Don' t you forget who paid for your mother' s hospital bed!"

That was his last-ditch effort. The final, pathetic stab of guilt. But it no longer worked.

"She' s dead, Dad. Your threats died with her," Ellery said calmly. "I' m free."

She didn' t wait for his response. She hung up and blocked his number. Then she blocked her brother' s number. She pulled the SIM card from her phone and snapped it in half, dropping the pieces into the trash.

It was over.

She thought back to that day, twelve years ago. Her father, his face a mask of false sorrow, telling her it was the only way. Her mother, already frail, weeping in her bed. And Ellery, sixteen, agreeing to a life sentence to save them.

The Parks family had been discreet. They' d arranged for her to "accidentally" meet Dawson at a charity event. She' d been coached on his likes, his dislikes, his emotional triggers. She played her part perfectly.

He' d been a broken, angry boy. He latched onto her immediately. She was the calm in his storm. He needed her for everything: to wake him up, to choose his clothes, to remind him of his appointments, to soothe him when his grief for his mother or his pining for Kenzie became too much.

"Kenzie wouldn' t even look at me now," he' d cry to her in the early years, after Kenzie' s family had moved across the country. "She was perfect, El. She was everything."

Ellery would listen, a paid confidante, and say all the right things. She saw his infatuation for what it was: a boy' s fantasy, an obsession with a memory.

The night Kenzie broke up with her high school boyfriend, Dawson got blackout drunk. He stumbled into Ellery' s room, his eyes wild with a pain that wasn' t for her. He' d crashed into her, half-sobbing, half-demanding, and their relationship had crossed its final, irrevocable line.

The next morning, he' d woken up with a look of horror, not at what he' d done to her, but at his own weakness.

"Help me, El," he' d begged. "I don' t know what to do. I need you."

And so she had stayed. For twelve years, she was his rock, his secretary, his lover. Everyone thought she was the luckiest woman in the world.

She knew she was just a well-paid prisoner. A job. And it was the most grueling, soul-crushing job she could imagine.

Her mother' s death, while heartbreaking, had been an unexpected key. It was the final, quiet permission she needed. It was her mother leaving her the one thing she' d never had: freedom.

The day after the funeral, Ellery had walked into the Parks Corporation headquarters. She' d gone to HR and submitted her formal resignation.

Her colleague, a woman named Sarah, had been shocked.

"You' re leaving? Ellery, you can' t. Dawson will fall apart without you."

"Someone else will learn," Ellery had replied calmly.

"But... he has to approve it. He' ll never let you go."

Ellery had simply instructed her to follow procedure. The resignation, along with a stack of other routine documents, was sent to Dawson' s tablet for electronic approval.

That evening, he was at a lavish party celebrating Kenzie' s impending return. Surrounded by friends, laughing and drinking, he' d impatiently swiped through the documents, tapping 'Approve' on each one without a second glance.

He had approved his own ruin and hadn' t even noticed.