PROLOGUE

POV: Catriona

I didn’t take this internship to be noticed.

I took it because law school isn’t cheap.

Tuition doesn’t care about pride. Or sleep. Or how many hours you spend pretending you’re not intimidated by a man who built an empire before he turned thirty-five.

My name is Catriona Agreste.

Future attorney.

Current intern.

Every late night filing contracts at Reid Capital is another brick toward the courtroom I intend to dominate. Every stapled page, every highlighted clause, every sleepless dawn spent hunched over corporate agreements is a sacrifice I’ve already accepted.

Which is why standing inside Shawn Reid’s private office feels dangerously off-plan.

---

“Miss Agreste.”

His voice is smooth. Precise. A man who negotiates billion-dollar deals without raising his pulse.

“Close the door.”

I do.

Because I need this job.

Because my scholarship covers only half.

Because my mother already sacrificed enough.

The door clicks shut, and the silence inside his office is heavier than the marble floors beneath my heels.

He doesn’t look at me immediately. He finishes reviewing a document first — as if I’m a detail, not a disruption. His pen glides across the page, deliberate, unhurried.

“You rewrote the acquisition proposal I rejected.”

“Yes.”

No apology.

Timidity doesn’t pay tuition.

---

“Why?”

Because recommendation letters matter. Because judges won’t care how scared I was. Because I refuse to be average.

But what I say is:

“Because it was legally vulnerable.”

His pen stops.

“Explain.”

My pulse kicks hard against my ribs, but my voice stays level.

“Clause fourteen exposes the firm to liability if minority shareholders challenge disclosure timing. It’s aggressive. You don’t prefer reckless exposure. You prefer controlled risk.”

Silence.

Thick. Evaluating.

He stands.

Slowly.

“You’re an intern.”

“I’m a law student.”

“First year.”

“Yes.”

“And you believe you understand my strategy?”

I hold his gaze.

“I understand leverage.”

That does it.

Not anger.

Not offense.

Interest.

Then he stand.

He moves around the desk, stopping close enough that I feel the heat of him — but he doesn’t touch me.

Control radiates from him. Not loud. Not dramatic.

Deliberate.

“Why are you really here, Catriona?”

Not in this office.

In this building where ambition smells like polished wood and silent power.

“To finance my law degree,” I say. “And to learn from the best.”

Calculated honesty.

“You think I’m the best?”

“I think you don’t lose.”

A faint smile curves his mouth.

“I lose,” he says quietly. “I just don’t do it publicly.”

That shouldn’t feel intimate.

But it does.

Pause.

“You’re not here for admiration,” he continues. “You’re here for advancement.”

“Yes.”

“And what happens when advancement requires compromise?”

My spine straightens.

“I don’t compromise my future.”

The air shifts.

There it is.

The first real move in a game neither of us admitted we were playing.

He studies me again — recalculating.

“Be here tomorrow at eight.”

“For work?”

His gaze lowers, then returns to mine.

“For opportunity.”

My pulse stumbles.

Opportunity is a dangerous word in the hands of a man like Shawn Reid. A strategist billionaire.

“I don’t mix business with vulnerability,” I say carefully.

His expression darkens — intrigued with eyes staring at me.

“Good,” he replies. “Because I don’t tolerate weakness.”

I can’t believe it.

I can’t forget it.

I walk out shaken.

Not because he intimidated me.

But because he saw me.

Not just the intern.

Not just the scholarship student.

He saw ambition.

He saw future.

And men like Shawn Reid don’t ignore ambition.

They test it.

The terrifying part?

I don’t know if I’m preparing for a courtroom battle—

Or walking into one.

My meeting with him took about an hour.

The elevator ride down feels longer than usual. My reflection in the mirrored walls looks like someone I barely recognize — jaw tight, eyes sharper than they should be after three consecutive nights of four-hour sleep.

I remind myself: this is temporary. This internship is a stepping stone, not a destination. Reid Capital is a fortress of power, and I am only passing through its halls long enough to collect the tools I need.

But Shawn Reid’s words echo louder than the hum of the elevator. For opportunity.

Opportunity is never free. It demands something in return. Time. Loyalty. Sometimes silence. And sometimes, compromise.

I told him I don’t compromise my future. I meant it. But futures are fragile things. They bend under pressure. They fracture under temptation.

And temptation has a way of disguising itself as mentorship.

I kept walking…

The lobby smells faintly of leather and ambition. Associates stride past me with the confidence of people who already belong. I don’t belong. Not yet.

But I will.

I think of my mother, her hands calloused from years of work, her smile tired but unwavering. She believes in me. She believes this sacrifice will be worth it.

I can’t afford to fail her.

Which means I can’t afford to misstep with Shawn Reid.

No.

Not him.

Shawn Reid isn’t just a man. He’s a symbol. Every whispered conversation in the break room, every hushed rumor about his ruthless negotiations, every headline that praises his empire — they all orbit around him like planets around a sun.

And now, somehow, I’ve stepped into his gravity.

He saw me.

That’s the problem.

Because when men like him see you, they don’t forget. They don’t dismiss. They calculate.

And calculation is more dangerous than intimidation.

Now.

Today and,

Tomorrow

At Eight o’clock.

I’ll be there.

Not because I want to.

Because I have to.

Because ambition doesn’t wait for comfort.

Because opportunity, no matter how dangerous, is still opportunity.

And because if Shawn Reid intends to test me, I intend to pass.

Even if the test is one I don’t yet understand.

It’s hard to understand life’s test.

Law school taught me theory. Reid Capital is teaching me reality.

And reality is this:

Every battle begins long before the courtroom.

Sometimes, it begins in an office with polished wood, a man who doesn’t lose, and an intern who refuses to be average.

The question isn’t whether I’ll survive this life’s test.

The question is whether I’ll win it.