Chapter 1

The debt felt like concrete settling in Evelina’s stomach. She sat on a leather couch that probably cost more than her father’s entire antique shop inventory, trying not to touch anything. Her worn denim skirt and thin cotton shirt were suddenly loud in the silence of the waiting room. Everything here was quiet, expensive, and wrong.

She looked at the clock on the wall. It wasn't a clock, really. It was a clear glass circle with no numbers, just two silver lines that moved too slowly. She hated it. Time should feel urgent, especially when your life was bleeding out onto a contract.

The Thorne family debt wasn’t just money. It was the name, the legacy, the roof over her sister Chloe’s head. Three million dollars. An impossible number her father, fueled by bad luck and worse decisions, had somehow racked up through a shady bank deal tied to Dante Valenti’s private holdings. Dante didn't run a bank. He ran a grinder, and the Thorne family was currently stuck in the gears.

A woman with hair pulled back so tight it looked painful appeared in the doorway. She wore a black dress and gave Evelina nothing, no sympathy, no judgment. Just a blank wall. “Mr. Valenti will see you now.”

Evelina stood up. Her legs felt weak, like two columns of old plaster. Don’t look scared. She told herself this every five seconds. Scared is what he wants.

The office was worse than the waiting room. It was on the top floor. Glass walls showed the whole city spread out below, looking small and stupid. The room smelled like expensive metal and silence. Dante Valenti stood behind a desk made of dark wood that looked heavy enough to sink a boat.

He wasn’t what she expected. Not a mob boss from a cheap movie. He was wearing a dark suit that didn't wrinkle anywhere. His hair was black, cut sharp, and his eyes were the same color as the storm clouds you only see over the ocean grey, deep, and without a single soft spot. He was younger than she thought, maybe thirty-five. Too young to hold the ruin of her family in his manicured hand.

He didn't invite her to sit. He just watched her. His stillness was a weapon.

“Miss Thorne,” he said. His voice was low, flat. No accent she could place, which made it feel like a sound generated by the room itself.

“Mr. Valenti,” she replied. Her own voice sounded shaky and too loud, like a door slamming in a church.

“You know why you are here.” He didn’t use questions. He used statements that closed the conversation.

“To settle the debt.”

“And you have the required collateral?” He raised an eyebrow. The movement was small, but it felt like a gunshot.

Evelina had spent the last two weeks begging, borrowing, and finally, selling everything she owned that wasn't legally tied up. It amounted to sixty thousand dollars. A joke. She pulled the bank draft from her worn handbag. Her hands were sweaty, and the paper felt flimsy.

She slid it across the flawless wood. It stopped a foot from his hand.

Dante didn’t look at it. He didn’t even glance down. He kept his eyes locked on hers, pinning her to the polished floor.

“The total due is three million, two hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars. Plus fees. This, Miss Thorne, is less than two percent of the principal.” He finally looked at the paper. He picked up a pen, a heavy silver thing, also too perfect and pushed the draft back across the desk. It was a casual flick, but it felt like a full rejection. “I am not a charity.”

“It’s everything I have,” she choked out. She hated the desperation in her voice. Stop begging.

“I know.” He walked around the desk, stopping too close. She could smell something clean and sharp, like linen and cold air. She forced herself not to step back. If she moved, she lost.

“The antique shop, the building, the inventory, it is all legally mine by tomorrow at noon. Your father signed the covenant. The debt is secured by the assets, which are now insufficient.” He walked past her to the glass wall. “But I don’t want broken cabinets and cracked vases. I want stability. I want control.”

He turned back. “You are the valuable asset, Miss Thorne.”

Evelina's breath hitched. She knew what this meant, but hearing it said out loud that she was the currency was like a bucket of ice water. “I am an art historian. I curate ancient artifacts. I am not... collateral.”

“You are now.” He walked toward her again, slow and deliberate. “I have reviewed your profile. Perfect academic record. Disciplined. No criminal contacts. Fiercely protective of your family. You are currently the primary guardian of Chloe Thorne, age nineteen, studying literature at NYU, first-year scholarship student.”

Evelina felt the cold stab of fear. He knew everything. He had weaponized her sister. “Leave her out of this.”

Dante's expression hardened, moving from flat indifference to something cold and dangerous. “Do not give me commands in my own office. Ever. I am offering you a choice. I liquidate the antique shop, and your father faces immediate criminal charges for breach of contract and misrepresentation of collateral. Chloe loses her scholarship, her tuition, and her security in this city. She is collateral damage.”

He waited for her to process the destruction. He was good at this. He could watch her world burn and not feel the heat. “Or,” he continued, his voice dropping, “you sign a new contract. Five years. You live here, in this tower. You work for me. You are my employee, my curator, my companion. You manage my private collection. Your debt is wiped clean, and Chloe’s college fund, her housing, her well-being, are secured for the duration of the contract. You maintain your respectability, your freedom as long as you remain mine.”

She looked at the contract on the desk. Five years. Her entire twenties, gone. Traded for a house, a reputation, and the safety of her sister. She walked to the desk, her reflection wavering in the polished surface.

“What if I refuse?”

“Then you lose everything by noon tomorrow,” he stated simply. “And you spend the next few years battling me in court. You will lose the battle, but more importantly, you will lose the time you could have spent ensuring your sister’s safety. Chloe graduates in four years. You have five years to give me. The math is simple, Miss Thorne. Five years for the rest of her life.”

He made it sound like a perfectly sound business decision. And it was. For him.

Evelina looked at the city outside the window, the cold glass promising a gilded cage. This wasn't a choice; it was a surrender. She picked up the pen he had used to reject her money. It was heavy, cold. She felt the knot of fear in her stomach loosen, replaced by a hard, bitter resolve. She wouldn't break. She would resist. She would fight him with every silent glance, every small disruption in his perfect world.

She signed her name. The black ink looked stark and final against the white paper.

Dante finally allowed himself a tiny, controlled smirk, a flash of pure, cold victory that vanished as quickly as it appeared.

“Welcome aboard, Evelina,” he said. He didn’t offer his hand. “The arrangement begins now. Your father’s debt is cleared. Your former life ends here. My assistant will show you to your new quarters.”

He didn't look at her again. He just went back to the paperwork on his desk, dismissing her as quickly as he had claimed her. She was a line item that had been settled. She stood there, watching him, the cold resolution solidifying in her chest.

He may own the contract, she thought, gathering the shreds of her dignity. But he doesn't own me.

She turned and followed the black-dressed assistant out, the scent of expensive metal and cold air following her like a brand.