Sophie Shaw’s face was burning. She felt a helpless sensation, as if she were being roasted over a fire.

The very tips of her ears turned red.

Alaric Blackwood hadn’t expected her to be so easily embarrassed. Her small, delicate face was so flushed it looked as if it might start bleeding at any moment.

"Alright, I’ll stop teasing you."

He buckled her seatbelt, then leaned back and gently shut the car door.

He strode over to the driver’s side of the Maybach, got in, and pulled away.

Sophie noticed they were heading toward the business district.

Heart of the Ocean was a small company located in an old building where the rent was much cheaper than in the surrounding office towers.

Alaric Blackwood had never asked for her company’s address, yet he stopped the car right in front of the old office building.

"We’re here."

The man’s expression was indifferent, with an air of languor.

Sophie thanked him, unbuckled her seatbelt, and got out.

The cool, late-autumn wind brushed against her cheeks, dispelling some of the heat from her face.

She took a few deep breaths, watched the Maybach drive away, then turned and entered the office building. She took the elevator to the sixth floor, where her company was located.

She had majored in jewelry design, but after graduating, she never pursued it as a career. Instead, to help Damian Morgan, she had been working as his assistant. For a whole year, she had accompanied him through late nights of overtime and business dinners. She’d drunk so much alcohol that her stomach was a wreck, yet she had never received a single cent in salary or seen a dime in dividends.

She returned to her desk. It was lunchtime, and all the other employees were out.

She put down her purse and headed straight for the general manager’s office.

The door was ajar, and she could faintly hear voices inside. Just as she raised her hand to knock, she heard a long, drawn-out moan.

It was a woman’s voice—delicate and soft.

She pushed the door open a little farther and saw two tangled bodies.

It was Vianne Kane and Damian Morgan.

The man had the woman pinned against the wide office desk...

"Ah! Damian... you’re so rough..."

Vianne Kane sensed a ferocity in him that was different from usual, and she cried out.

Sophie scrambled back, twisting her right ankle and nearly falling to the floor.

The sound caught the attention of the pair inside.

"Who’s there?"

Damian Morgan demanded in a low voice.

Dragging her injured foot, she fled in a panic. She snatched her purse from her desk along the way and ducked into the break room, closing the door behind her.

Her back pressed against the door, she gasped for breath.

’Her mind reeled with the sordid scene from the office. Their intimacy was so practiced; it was clearly not the first time...’

’She couldn’t help but recall how Damian Morgan had described her that morning—a passionless block of wood.’

In the three years they’d been together, Damian Morgan had never crossed any real boundaries with her. The most intimate they had ever been was holding hands and hugging, and even the hugs had been few and far between.

’Thinking back, even his hugs had been completely perfunctory.’

Ever since she’d taken Damian Morgan to meet her family, his attitude had grown even colder. He stopped bringing her to certain business dinners and often ignored her calls and messages.

’She had thought he was busy. It turned out he was busy seducing Vianne Kane.’

—

Sophie hid in the break room, rubbing her ankle. Fortunately, the sprain wasn’t severe, and the pain had already subsided.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she heard Vianne Kane’s saccharine voice and Damian Morgan’s gentle coaxing.

"The others will be back from lunch soon. Go on home, and be good. Wait for me."

His voice was so gentle.

Sophie frowned as she listened to their footsteps fade into the distance. Only when she was certain they were gone did she pull open the door and step out of the break room.

Back at her desk, she hung up her jacket and sat down. She was searching for information on share transfers when she heard footsteps approaching.

She looked up to see Damian Morgan returning after having walked Vianne Kane out.

He walked toward her, adjusting his collar. "When did you get in?"

She didn’t answer, her gaze returning to her computer screen.

Damian Morgan tilted his head to glance at her screen and scoffed. "That’s useless, Sophie Shaw. You gave me that money willingly. There’s no IOU, no proof of your initial investment ratio. All you control are the few shares you hold. You can forget about the rest."

Sophie knew what he meant. She’d wanted to check for loopholes, but the hope was slim.

Unless she had enough capital to buy out Heart of the Ocean herself.

’It was a small company, so its market valuation wouldn’t be too high... The problem was, she had no funds.’

"I know what you’re thinking, so don’t waste your energy. After Vianne and I are married, the next step is for the Kane Group to acquire Heart of the Ocean. With a publicly traded company like that backing us, our company will have a real future. And you can stop being my assistant. You can’t hold your liquor at business dinners, you’re no good at sweet-talking clients, and you’re so damn prim and proper you can’t land any investments. You might as well go over to the design department and do what you actually studied. Make yourself useful and generate some value for the company."

"Once the company is stable, you’ll get your share of the benefits."

Listening to Damian Morgan lay out his plan, Sophie’s heart hammered in her chest.

’If Heart of the Ocean was acquired by the Kane Group, she would be nothing more than an employee of the Kane Family.’

’She didn’t want that.’

"Why so quiet?"

Damian Morgan leaned down, bracing his hands on her desk and looming over her. His eyes held a flirtatious glint. "Not happy with my arrangements?"

"If you had it all planned out, why did you agree to elope with me?"

"And then stand me up on the night we were supposed to elope, leaving me to wait like an idiot in the pouring rain?"

"I called you so many times. You could have just told me not to wait..."

’His actions were nothing less than a complete humiliation.’

"Sophie, are you still in love with me?"

Sophie scoffed. "Don’t be so full of yourself."

"Then who are you putting on this lovesick puppy act for?"

Damian Morgan raised a hand and grabbed her chin, squeezing hard. "You were the one snooping outside the office, weren’t you? Enjoy the show? You sound so bitter. Are you jealous?"

"Disgusting."

Sophie’s stomach churned. She grabbed his hand, trying to wrench it away, but he only tightened his grip, as if he wanted to shatter her jaw.

He dropped all pretense. He was no longer the man of integrity and noble character she remembered, but someone utterly shameless. "If you have any regrets about me never touching you during our three years together, I suppose I could bring myself to give you some pity breakup sex. How about it?"

"No! Get away from me! Don’t touch me! You make me sick!"

Using both of her hands, Sophie clawed at his, digging her nails into his skin. She drew blood from the back of his hand and his arm.

She fought back viciously.

The man’s brow furrowed in pain. He looked down at his bleeding arm, his gaze darkening, and violently shoved her away.

Sophie was nearly thrown from her chair. She grabbed the edge of the desk to steady herself, then immediately snatched a box cutter from the pen holder, gripping it tightly.

"Stay away from me!"

She extended the blade, got to her feet, and faced Damian Morgan warily. "Harass me again, say one more vulgar thing, and I’m calling the police."