Chapter 1

My overbearing mother-in-law, Victoria, had hated me since day one.

Desperate to get me out of her son’s life, she took my photo and personal portfolio to the most exclusive matchmaking agency in the city, putting me up on their high-society catalog like a prize horse.

When my husband found out, he blew up at her right in front of me: "Mom! How could you do this to Stella? What do you take my wife for?!"

A brief flicker of warmth had stirred in my chest.

Until the very next morning, when I got a call from the agency's executive concierge: "Good morning, Mrs. Hayes. Your husband called late last night to upgrade your membership to our $1.2 million Black Diamond package. He specifically instructed us to find you a suitor with at least ten times his net worth."

The woman’s voice through the receiver dripped with sickening sweetness.

"Mr. Hayes is truly one of a kind. He said the price didn't matter—what mattered was ensuring your happiness as you enter your next chapter."

Clutching the cold phone, I stared out at the overcast sky. My throat felt like sandpaper.

"Understood."

I hung up just as Julian stepped out of the bathroom.

Beads of water trickled down his sculpted abs, disappearing beneath the low towel wrapped around his hips.

He walked over, wrapping his arms around me from behind with practiced ease, his warm breath fanning against my neck.

"Still upset about my mother, Stella?"

I didn't answer.

"Don't let her get to you," he murmured, softly kissing my earlobe. "I put her in her place. She won't dare pull a stunt like that again."

He was such a brilliant actor.

If not for that phone call, I would have fallen for it, just like I had countless times over the past three years—basking in his tender, devoted facade, believing he was my shield against the storm.

Three years of marriage, and Victoria’s daily contempt had become routine.

She sneered at my academic upbringing, calling my professor father's pedigree "poverty-stricken prestige" unworthy of the billionaire Hayes empire.

She mocked the hours I spent in my art studio, claiming I lacked the grace of a proper trophy wife.

And now, she had stripped away all pretenses, putting me on the auction block.

And Julian, my loving husband, played the noble mediator in public, defending me fiercely against his mother.

Behind closed doors, he drove the dagger in deeper, with a cruelty that left no visible blood.

A $1.2 million Black Diamond package.

A man ten times richer than him.

What was his endgame?

He wanted to gift-wrap me as a high-end novelty, flaunting his generosity to the entire world, playing the magnanimous ex-husband who handed his discarded wife a better life.

How generous.

How utterly sadistic.

"Stella?" Seeing my silence, his grip tightened around my waist. "I chartered a yacht for the weekend. Let's get out on the water and clear your head, yeah?"

"Sounds wonderful."

I turned in his embrace, looking up with a radiant smile.

Seeing my reaction, Julian froze for a fraction of a second. A strange, unreadable shadow flickered deep within his dark eyes.

I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his.

He stiffened briefly before deepening the kiss, claiming me with ravenous hunger.

Since mother and son had worked so hard to build this stage—one setting the trap, the other handing over the blade—the show had officially begun.

And as the star of this drama, I wouldn't let their $1.2 million ticket go to waste.