Prologue

Dave Francis. The richest, and most ruthless banker in the country.
I was meant to marry someone else...
Until he bought me, like a trophy, in an auction.
I didn't say yes. I didn't get to say no.
I became his wife and was bound to him by a contract written in cruelty.

He treated me like I was nothing.
A burden.
A mistake he regretted with every breath.
To Dave, I was a stain on his perfect life, a waste of his wealth, a waste of his time.
He didn't touch me with love. He scarred me with silence.

And yet it was him my heart foolishly began to crave.

He was my husband but in the name only.