Chapter 1

The eviction notice was still taped to my door when the lawyer showed up. 

I was dragging the last soggy box of my belongings down the hallway, rain dripping off my hoodie, when some slick-suited asshole stepped out of the elevator and right in my way.

“Noah Kane?” 

“Yes?” I answered uninterested, not stopping for a second to hear him out. I already a gut feeling that whatever would make its way out of his mouth wouldn’t be in my favor.

He held out a thick envelope, and pushed it against my chest successfully stopping me in my tracks. 

“This is for you.” He said robotically, like a man that couldn’t care less about others person space, or wellbeing.

I laughed, ugly and tired, snatching the paper from him and glancing through the words.

“What more could there possibly be for me to deal with. I just got tossed out of my apartment for goodness sa-” I said as I glanced through the document, but he said the words before I could even get to them. 

“Alexander Sterling has been named your legal guardian until you turn twenty-six.” The box slipped from my fingers and hit the floor with a loud smack. I stared at the guy like he’d just grown a second head. 

“What?!” 

My eyes darted through the document at rapid speed, confirming the words he’d just said. “You can’t be serious” 

 “Unfortunately for you, I am.” He didn’t even blink, just continued on like this was any other daily news. 

“Your late brother’s will contained a clause stating that every scent of your inheritance be held in trust. The trustee is Alexander Sterling. So, until you reach twenty-six, he controls the funds… and you.” 

My stomach dropped at the news.

Alexander Sterling was my brother’s best friend. The cold-eyed billionaire whose name was on half the new skyscrapers in the city. The man I’d met exactly twice, once at the funeral and once when I was sixteen and my brother dragged me to some charity thing. 

Back then he’d looked at me like I was an inconvenience, so one could imagine what It’d be like having to live with that blue eyed monster, one that now technically owned me.

 “Where is he?” I asked, voice low and filled with menace as I crumbled the paper I my fist. 

The lawyer checked his watch. “Probably at his penthouse. He’s expecting you.”

I left the box and the document on the floor and stomped my way downstairs, leaving my belongings and the lawyer behind in my fury. I floored it all the way there and twenty minutes later I was in the private elevator of the Sterling Tower, fists clenched so tight my nails cut into my palms. 

The doors opened straight into what could only be described as shiny marble, high glass windows and décor and money that smelled like leather and absolute power. This was his house.

At the far end of the office, Alexander Sterling stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows with his back to me, watching the city lights glittering below him like he’d bought the whole damn skyline. 

“Mr. Kane,” he said, voice just as smooth as I remember. “You made good time.” 

I crossed the room in four long strides, placed my hand on his shoulder and spun him to look at me. “What the fuck is this?” 

Now staring up at him, fully taking him in, is now I realize how much bigger he was than I. Tall, broad-shouldered, with a sharp jaw, winter steel eyes and flowy black hair peppered with silver at the temples even though he couldn’t be more than thirty-eight. 

He looked at me like he’d been waiting for this exact moment. “Language,” he said mildly. 

“Language?” I barked a laugh. “My brother’s been dead three months. I’m sleeping in my car tonight, and now you conveniently happen to be my guardian? I’m twenty-five, not fifteen!” 

Alexander shrugged. “There’s nothing I can do about that. The clause is ironclad, your brother wrote it himself. He wanted you protected.” 

“Protected?” I stepped closer, close enough to smell his cologne. “From what? ‘Cause I know it definitely isn’t from poverty.”

“From the choices that got him killed.” The words landed like a harsh slap right to my ego. I swung before I could think it through, but before my fist could land, Alexander caught my wrist mid-air. 

We froze like that, me breathing hard, while he stood completely still with my fist inches from his perfect face. His eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second, then back up to stare into my eyes.

“Sit down, Noah.” 

“Fuck. You.” But even as I cursed at him, he didn’t let go. 

“You have two options. One, you walk out that door right now, but keep in mind that your inheritance is gone, the penthouse your brother left you? I’ll sell it, and the trust fund? Might as well just count it as non-existent. You get nothing but the clothes on your back and whatever’s left in your bank account, which I already know is forty-three dollars.”

My heart hammered against my ribs, hard and panicked even though I tried to force myself to stay calm.

“Two,” he continued, voice low, “You move in here. Tonight. You follow my rules until your twenty-sixth birthday. If you do that then everything your brother wanted you to have is yours. No strings attached.” 

I tried to yank my hand free but he held on. 

“Those are the only choices I’ll offer you,” he said. “There is no third.” 

I stared at him, chest heaving in frustration. 

I hated him. I hated that my brother had trusted him. I hated that his fingers around my wrist felt like the only solid thing in my entire collapsing life. Alexander leaned in, just enough that I felt the heat of his breath. “Decide, Noah. The clock’s ticking.” 

My throat worked up and down as I tried to think through all the pros and cons of this arrangement. I had nowhere else to go. Honestly I had no choice but to agree to his demands even though that was the last thing I wanted to do. 

I swallowed the scream building in my chest and forced out; “Fine,” I bit out. “I’ll move in.” 

Something flickered in his eyes - satisfaction, maybe. Or hunger. I didn’t have the time to decipher it because it was gone before I could properly name it.  

He released my wrist. “Good boy.” The words slid under my skin, successfully rubbing me the wrong way. 

I stepped back, rubbing the spot where his fingers had just been, heart slamming so hard I was scared even the bastard could hear it. Alexander smiled, small and dangerous.

“Welcome home, Noah.”