Chapter 2

Audie pushed through the ballroom doors and practically sprinted down the hallway.

The thick, patterned carpet muffled her footsteps, but the heavy pounding of her heart echoed in her ears.

Her stomach clamped down in a violent spasm.

She slapped a hand over her mouth, fighting the sudden, intense urge to vomit right there in the corridor.

Behind her, the muffled thud of the ballroom doors swinging open vibrated through the floorboards.

"Audie! Wait!"

Ryder's desperate voice bounced off the high ceilings of the empty hallway.

She walked faster, her thumb digging ruthlessly into her wrist.

She reached the elevator bank and slammed her palm against the down button.

The metal doors slid open with a soft ping.

Just as she stepped inside, a hand shot out and clamped around her wrist like a vice.

Ryder yanked her backward.

Audie ripped her arm out of his grasp as if his skin were made of acid.

She looked at him, her eyes sweeping over his face like she was inspecting a piece of rotting garbage.

"Audie, please, you have to listen to me," Ryder hissed, keeping his voice low. "My parents forced this. It's for the merger."

A harsh, humorless laugh tore from Audie's throat.

"Don't lie to me," she snapped, stepping into his space. "I see the greed in your eyes, Ryder. You want the Bell money just as much as they do."

She stepped backward into the elevator.

Ryder threw his body forward, wedging his shoulder between the closing doors to force them back open.

He stumbled into the small, confined space of the elevator car.

The heavy scent of his Tom Ford cologne filled the air, a smell she used to love, but now it only made the bile rise in her throat again.

"I only love you," Ryder pleaded, reaching out to grab her waist. "Tatum means nothing."

Audie didn't think.

She raised her right hand and swung it with every ounce of strength she possessed.

Her palm connected with his cheek in a sharp, explosive crack.

The sound echoed violently off the metal walls of the elevator.

Ryder's head snapped to the side, a red mark instantly blooming across his jaw.

The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open to the ground floor lobby.

Audie shoved past his frozen body and marched straight out.

She pushed through the hotel's revolving glass doors.

The freezing, damp air of a late autumn New York night hit her face.

The rain was coming down in sheets, but she didn't care. She just walked straight into the downpour.

Ryder burst through the doors a second later, sprinting into the rain.

He jerking her to a halt.

"Are you crazy?" he yelled over the sound of the rain, his face twisted in anger. "You are making a scene! You are nothing without me!"

Audie stood in the freezing rain, the water plastering her hair to her cheeks.

"We are done," she said, her voice colder than the storm. "Go back to your little fiancée."

Ryder's face turned purple with rage.

He yanked her arm hard, trying to physically drag her back under the hotel awning.

Audie's wet heels slipped on the slick asphalt.

Her ankle gave out, and she stumbled sideways, bracing for the hard impact of the street.

Suddenly, twin beams of blinding white light sliced through the heavy rain, illuminating them perfectly.

A massive, pitch-black armored Maybach rolled forward, its deep engine purring like a predator.

It glided to a stop mere inches from where they stood.

The heavy tires rolled directly through a deep puddle.

A wave of dirty street water splashed up, soaking Ryder's custom leather shoes and the hem of his trousers.

Ryder let go of Audie and spun toward the car, his mouth opening to scream obscenities.

The tinted, bulletproof window of the rear passenger seat slowly rolled down, stopping at exactly one-third of the way.

The interior of the car was dark, but a pair of deep, predatory eyes locked onto Ryder through the narrow opening.

The sheer, suffocating weight of the authority radiating from the car hit Ryder like a physical blow.

His mouth snapped shut. He instinctively took a step back, his hands dropping to his sides.

A low, magnetic male voice drifted out from the dark interior of the Maybach.

"Get in the car."