Home / He Paid Eight Point Seven Million for My First Dance / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of He Paid Eight Point Seven Million for My First Dance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

Adrian came toward me, his eyes red-rimmed. Then he saw my belly and Lucas's jacket around my shoulders, and he stopped dead."Elena, I've been looking for you for three months."I walked toward him barefoot. "All Lucas did was find me at a gas station. The people who took me—"My mother-in-law, Evelyn Holt, rushed at me and slapped me so hard my head snapped sideways."You vanish for three months, come back pregnant with your old flame in tow, and you have the nerve to make excuses?"The ultrasound showed I was 16 weeks pregnant.I was already four weeks pregnant when I disappeared.The doctor said he was on the small side, but his heartbeat was strong.I lay on the exam table listening to that fast little thump-thump-thump, and the tears wouldn't stop.Down in that basement, I'd talked to him every day. I told him to hang on for one more day and promised his daddy was coming to get us.Now I was finally back with Adrian.I pressed his hand to my belly. "He's moving."Adrian's fingers

Chapter 2

When I woke up, Adrian was sitting by the bed with a glass of water.One look at the hands that had once made me feel so safe, and my stomach clenched."Get out."He dropped his gaze and walked out. I grabbed the jacket he'd left behind and went after him. I didn't want to smell even a trace of him!But then I heard Lucas's voice out in the hall."She was 16 weeks pregnant. She only went missing 12 weeks ago. You knew it was yours!""The doctors know how to count weeks. The people out there don't.""She'll never forgive you.""I'll make it up to her. But we couldn't keep that baby, no matter whose it was."Then Lucas asked, "You paid over eight million for that dance and married her. Was it all for this?"Adrian gave a short laugh. "Did you forget who called you out of the ballroom that night? Once Elena was married off, you'd be free to commit to Sophia. I didn't want people running their mouths about my sister's engagement. All they'd say is that Sophia stole Elena's man!"The money

Chapter 3

I had Rachel lock the evidence away and didn't tip anyone off.When I got home, Adrian brought me a whole pot of thick, greasy soup.I'd just lost the baby, and the doctor had made it clear I could only eat light, bland food."Sophia's taking her outdoor club up to the hunting lodge this weekend. I want you to go with her and keep an eye on the people and the supplies."One whiff of that soup and I started dry heaving.And the joke was, he wasn't even doing it for me.Adrian couldn't remember what my doctor had told me, but he remembered to find someone to do Sophia's legwork.I needed to be out of his sight to deal with my passport and work visa, so I said yes.When we left, Adrian carefully packed Sophia's medicine and coats for her. All he handed me was the group roster. "Take care of her."Lucas also made a special trip to drop off a satellite phone. He set his own number on speed dial, then tucked hand warmers into Sophia's coat pockets, one after another.When he walked past me,

Chapter 4

An ambulance pulled up. Adrian and Lucas ran over from the car behind it.One of them checked Sophia's leg while the other took off his coat and wrapped it around her.I sat slumped behind them, alone. It wasn't until the blood from my shoulder dripped into the snow that Adrian turned around."Elena, thank God you were with her. If anything had happened to Sophia, I don't know what I would've done."His arms around me were as strong as ever, but I only felt colder by the second. I pushed him away with my good arm.A paramedic saw the blood on my shoulder and ran toward me with his kit.Lucas stepped in front of him. "Sophia inhaled smoke. Check her lungs first!"The paramedic had no choice but to turn back. Adrian went with him and fitted the oxygen mask over Sophia's face himself.I pressed my left hand to my shoulder, but the blood kept seeping out between my fingers.Sophia only had a scrape on her calf. My right shoulder needed 27 stitches.The next day, a video of her lighting a f

Chapter 5

They forced me in front of the cameras, and I didn't say one word of apology.Sophia sat just out of frame with Adrian's coat around her shoulders. Lucas was crouched in front of her, tucking a blanket over her knees.I was still in a thin hospital gown, and blood had already soaked through the fresh bandage on my shoulder.The host slid the teleprompter in front of me. The first line read, "I'm sorry. I ignored the no-fire signs."I kept my mouth shut and didn't read a single word.But Lucas stood in front of dozens of news outlets and announced that losing my baby had left me so unstable I'd lit the bonfire in the no-fire zone.Adrian promised to pay for all the damages and said his "ex-wife" would be getting therapy.My head whipped around to stare at him.The police took me away on the spot.A huge crowd of protesters had gathered outside the hospital. The bodyguards marched me straight through them on purpose, and people pelted me with ice water and trash.It didn't take long for

Chapter 6

On Christmas Eve, Adrian and Lucas both went to the rehearsal for the engagement party.Toward evening, a faint, dry scraping started up behind the radiator.A dark brown snake slithered out.Then a second one. Then a third.Someone dumped spiders and centipedes through the gap beneath the door, too. I climbed barefoot onto the bed and reached for the window latch. The ankle monitor started shrieking, and the alarm-linked automatic window locked with a sharp click.The closest snake was already climbing the bed frame.I swung a pillow at it. The wound on my shoulder ripped open, and the pain made my whole arm shake.I pounded on the door. No one outside answered.One of the snakes reared its head and lunged at me.Just then, the door burst open.Anna Price, the maid who'd been looking after me, sprayed the snakes with a fire extinguisher, then grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.My legs were too weak to hold me, so Anna slung one of my arms over her shoulder and half dragged

Chapter 7

Adrian didn't get back to the estate until the engagement party was over.The snakes and bugs were still on the guest room floor. The ankle monitor I'd pried off lay in the garage. He tried to track me down as my husband, but the police told him there was no legally recognized marriage between us.My jewelry, my gowns, and our wedding gifts were all exactly where I'd left them.A letter slipped out from behind a shattered picture frame."Adrian, I'm about four weeks along. You always say the house is too quiet. Soon there'll be one more person waiting for you to come home. When you find this letter, it'll be our way of telling you you're going to be a daddy."I'd written it right before I went missing. Adrian sank to the floor, his hands shaking too hard to hold the page.I'd fought with everything I had to keep that baby alive out there, but on my first day home, he'd killed him with his own hands.Adrian called Lucas and told him to come over."When you found her, what did she say to

Chapter 8

By then, I was already in Dubai.At the airport exit, Julian's driver was holding up a sign with my name on it. On the back seat were the address of a hospital, the keys to a temporary apartment, and a printed copy of the acquisition files.Julian sent just one message. "December 30, nine a.m., conference room. If you need more time, tell me."I hugged the files to my chest and wrote back, "I don't need more time."After a doctor cleaned and redressed my shoulder, I went to see Julian.I'd been at the top of my finance class in college, but after the wedding I turned down every job I was offered. Julian had asked me to come work for him every single year.He didn't ask about my marriage. He just set the files for a stalled cross-border acquisition on the table."Three days. Finish it, and you stay."On the first day, I couldn't lift my right arm, so I typed with my left hand. The voice dictation kept mangling the company names, and I had to fix them one letter at a time.On the second

Chapter 9

Back in my first month in Dubai, the investigation's findings came out in New York.The kidnappers' payment records and the deleted fire video all led back to Sophia.When Adrian and Lucas went to confront her with the report, she was in the garden cottage, on the phone."Of course I have to get married fast. Once I start showing more, Lucas will figure out the dates don't line up."The color slowly drained out of Lucas's face."That escort was a one-night thing. Lucas will raise the baby as his own anyway."She laughed. "Too bad Elena's so hard to kill. She was locked up for three months and still made it back. Even with all those snakes, not one managed to finish her off."Adrian kicked the door open."Why did you have her kidnapped?" he demanded."Because I was scared she'd take you away from me! Once I married Lucas, she'd be the only one left by your side!""And the fire? Was that you too?""I only wanted to burn a few photos. How was I supposed to know that dump would go up so fa

Chapter 10

Sophia was charged. Lucas stepped down from his job after lying about the fire, and Adrian came under investigation for forcing an abortion and obstructing justice.Adrian sent me a letter every week.The first one was 32 pages long. The second just said, "I'm sorry."I didn't open any of them.Lucas sent me just one thing, a photo of the two of us as teenagers. I had my assistant send it right back.A year later, I went back to New York for a summit as the Bennett Fund's newest partner.Adrian was waiting outside the venue, holding the paddle he'd raised at the auction that night."Elena, give me one more chance."I glanced at the paddle in his hand."You paid eight point seven million dollars to make me your wife, and then you traded my baby, my reputation, and my freedom for Sophia's engagement party."You think raising that paddle again makes all of it go away?"His hand shook."I really had fallen in love with you by then.""I know."His head snapped up."You loved me, and you sti

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