All Chapters of He Paid Me Off, Not Knowing I Was the Governor's Only Daughter: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The next morning, I took a cab to Leo's apartment.I wasn't there to fight. I only wanted the silver pocket watch, the one keepsake my mother had left me.On the second floor, I saw two movers tossing cardboard boxes into the hallway.My things spilled across the floor, heaped together and covered in footprints as if they'd been pulled from a dumpster.Leo stood in the middle of the hallway in a new suit, giving orders."Throw it all out. I don't want a single thing of hers left in the apartment!"I stepped in front of the movers, my voice cold. "Leo, what gives you the right to throw my things away?"Leo frowned when he saw me. "I gave you $30,000. You're the one who never came to pack. I pay the rent, Elena. I can throw out any trash I want."Chloe came out of the apartment, dressed to the nines and toying with my silver pocket watch. She gave me a look of pure contempt."So you're the ex who won't let go of Leo? I've seen plenty like you. You think a little hardship with a man entit

At a private clinic in downtown Austin, a doctor stitched up my leg and put it in a splint.I sat on the hospital bed, my face pale. Dozens of falsified financial records from Leo's company had already been compiled on the computer beside me.To win Rockwell Ranch, he'd forged investment documents from three offshore companies. He'd even faked an MIT degree.For three years, every payment I'd signed off on to cover his financial shortfalls had come through shell accounts I'd set up.He thought he'd earned the money himself. He had no idea every cent had come from my father's trust fund."Ms. Rockwell, the engagement party has already started."Margaret stood beside the bed and handed me a black evening gown and a coat.I pulled the IV from my hand and copied the files onto a flash drive. I was going to give Leo an engagement surprise he'd never forget!Meanwhile, the Rockwell Country Club buzzed with excitement.Crystal chandeliers flooded the hall with light. Long tables groaned under

"And just hours ago, you sent someone to break her leg."The hall fell silent except for Leo's ragged, desperate breathing."Elena... Elena Rockwell?"Leo slumped in the puddles of spilled champagne, clutching his hair in both hands.Three years of memories rushed through his mind.The woman who'd made soup from cheap potatoes in that old kitchen every day to save him money.The woman who'd stayed up all night checking the books with him when his company was failing.The woman whose eyes had turned cold when he'd handed her a $30,000 check.And all along, she'd been the governor's only daughter!"No... It can't be. It can't be!"Leo slammed his head against the floor and screamed.Handcuffed, Chloe spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. Her face crumpled as she realized what she'd done. "Impossible! That woman's just a country orphan. There's no way she's the governor's daughter!"Her hair a wild mess, she kept repeating, half-crazed, "This can't be happening!"An officer tightened her

Early the next morning, under an Austin overpass.The place reeked.Leo woke shivering, his broken arm burning with pain.The night before, patrol officers had chased him down the hill like a vagrant. He'd ended up crawling under the overpass to sleep.He pushed himself up with his good hand and looked toward the window of an abandoned newsstand.A huge photo filled the front page of the morning paper.It showed Leo groveling outside the governor's estate, sobbing in the mud.In giant bold type, the headline read, "Fake Heiress and the Spineless Wonder: A Bankrupt Con Man's Ultimate Clown Show."Leo's head spun. The last of his pride crumbled."Look! Isn't that the clown from the paper?"A few homeless men passing by pointed at Leo under the overpass and laughed.A drunk tossed his half-eaten burger at Leo's head."Just my luck! The bastard who tried to con the governor's daughter is stealing our sleeping spot!"Mayonnaise ran through Leo's hair and into his eyes. He was too weak to fi

Two months later, at Rockwell Ranch.The ranch stretched to the horizon. Green grass rippled in the wind, and the air smelled of grass and wildflowers.It was the first celebration since the Rockwell family had regained control of the land.In white riding clothes and black boots, I swung onto a black thoroughbred.The fracture in my shin had healed. I sat tall in the saddle and gathered the reins.My father stood outside the fence in a denim jacket, smiling and applauding.The ranch hands and partners raised their glasses. Cheers and whistles carried across the open sky.Three years of darkness had lifted. I was back where I belonged.Meanwhile, 500 miles away, at a maximum-security federal prison in Texas.Leo knelt on the concrete floor of a dark, damp cell.He hadn't had surgery on his right arm soon enough. It hung twisted, withered, and useless against his chest.Several heavily tattooed inmates stood behind him, kicking him in the lower back."Listen up, con man. You're new here