Chapter 1

At the new entrepreneurs' panel, Fergus Simmons gave the press three chances to ask their questions.

"Mr. Simmons, who's the most important person on your road to success?"

The reporter regretted it the moment the words were out.

The question felt like a wasted chance.

Because that person had to be me. Deidre James, only daughter of the chairman of the Overseas Merchants' Guild.

Down in the audience, I let the corners of my mouth curve up.

Waiting for him to say it.

Instead, Fergus stunned the room.

"The most important person to me… is my old roommate."

"Ten years ago, when I first came to New York to make it, I shared a single bed with someone. We rented a three-hundred-dollar basement together."

"Only beside her could I fall asleep in peace."

"Without her, there'd be no me today."

The reporter sighed, moved.

"You're a loyal man, Mr. Simmons. A brotherhood from your struggling days, and you still hold it close."

"No. Not a brother."

He looked straight into the camera.

"The roommate who shared that bed with me was a girl."

The room went off like a shot, and every head turned toward me.

Three seconds later, I lifted my hand and gave the order.

"Find that girl."

"Then… take back everything Fergus has."

1

"Who is she?"

I stopped Fergus backstage.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"They haven't found her yet."

"Impossible."

I let my mouth curve slightly and looked him over.

"Three years ago, your company took off."

"First thing you did, you bought your parents a new house."

"Second thing, you got your buddies luxury cars."

"Your relatives, your classmates, your teachers… even the security guard at your old complex, you slid every one of them into Simmons Corp."

"A man that sentimental, and you'd forget the roommate who mattered most to you, the one you shared a bed with?"

I bit down hard on those last few words.

Just as I expected, Fergus's face changed.

"I won't tell you."

"Don't underestimate what I can do."

I toyed with the knot of his tie, tugging it up.

His body went rigid.

Then the tables turned.

He gripped my shoulders and pinned me against the wall.

A staffer passing by flushed red and hurried off.

Fergus's eyes were dark.

"Dee, she matters to me. All those nights I couldn't get through, she was the one beside me, telling me to keep going."

"That kind of encouragement stayed with me. That's why I said she was the most important person on my road."

"But rest easy. We only slept in the same bed. There was a blanket between us. Nothing ever crossed the line."

He paused.

"I'll only marry you and have children with you."

He rarely said this much.

Something in me softened.

I'd just begun to think about calling off the order when I caught the flash of silver at his knuckle.

The newest wedding band from that designer house, a limited edition, only one pair made in the whole world.

One of them was on his hand.

So… where was the other one?

Not with me.

I lowered my lashes and nodded.

"I lost face today. You owe me for that."

Fergus let out a faint breath.

Then slid on a gentle smile.

"Fine. Whatever you want, my lady."

Fergus took me to an exclusive private-dining restaurant to make it up to me.

The setting was lovely.

My attention stayed on my phone the whole time.

My people worked fast. In less than half a day they'd already pinned down the identity of Fergus's bedmate roommate. An employee at his own company, Maya Matthews.

I narrowed my eyes. A name I'd never heard.

Not a secretary. Not a department head.

Just an ordinary rank-and-file employee.

And a veteran one, at that, with the company since the day Simmons Corp was founded.

It took me one second to understand what Fergus was doing.

He was afraid that if he gave her a high position, I'd notice.

The further down I scrolled through the file, the colder my heart went.

All these years, every business trip Fergus took, he'd bring only one person. Maya.

I remembered watching a foreign film with Fergus a long time ago, when he'd said:

"I have a friend who loves to travel, but we were both too poor. I promised her that once I could afford it, I'd take her around the whole world."

So they went to Switzerland, to North America, to Japan, to Australia…

It looked like business travel. In truth, he was showing the woman he loved the whole world.

And to think I'd once assumed that so-called friend was one of his buddies.

I'd wired him plenty of money so he and his friend could travel.

A cold smile pulled at my lips.

Suddenly Fergus took my phone from my hand and set it face-down on the table.

With refined ease, he rolled up the sleeve of his black shirt, picked up a piece of fish, and held it out to feed me.

I opened my mouth without thinking.

Watching me chew, the corner of his mouth lifted.

"My lady, eat properly. Stop looking at your phone."

Then I froze.

The heat of ginger spread across my tongue and flushed through me, but my face went bloodless.

I spat it out at once.

"What is it?"

Fergus frowned and quickly patted my back, calling for someone.

I shook off his hand.

"Fergus, you know I'm allergic to ginger."

The head chef came in just as I said it and immediately bent into an apology.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Simmons. You didn't leave a special note this time, so we made it the way you usually like it, extra ginger. This one's on the house."

Fergus stiffened, meeting my searching look.

"I'm allergic to ginger. You don't eat ginger."

"So who is it that loves ginger?"

He didn't even need to answer. Maya's file spelled it out plainly on my phone.

"Maya loves it. Mr. Simmons has taken her to every high-end restaurant in the city. Here are the spending records."

"She's especially fond of the fish at Cedar Grove, the heavy-ginger version. This year alone Mr. Simmons has brought her here nearly a hundred times."

Fergus recovered his expression fast.

"A client ordered it."

The chef tasted the wrongness in that and nodded along, again and again.

I pressed my phone dark.

"This fish is good. I'm buying it out. Five million. From now on it's only ever made for me, and never for anyone else."

A fortune from the sky, and the chef grinned so wide he couldn't close his mouth.

Beside me, Fergus dropped his eyes, the veins standing out on the hand he clenched into a fist.