Chapter 2 - MRS. VALESarah woke to the sound of a heart monitor and a stranger arguing outside her hospital room.
By midnight, she would have three bullets in her body.
And the most dangerous man in New York would be kneeling in her blood.
At twenty-seven, Sarah had become very good at pretending desperation didn't show.
She smiled when wealthy guests snapped their fingers at her.
She apologized when men bumped into her and blamed her for spilling their drinks.
She ignored the blister forming beneath her left heel because the catering company deducted twenty-five dollars if an employee left before cleanup.
Twenty-five dollars mattered.
Everything mattered when rent was six days overdue.
“Table twelve needs another bottle,” her supervisor hissed.
Sarah nodded.
Across the ballroom, hundreds of people glittered beneath crystal chandeliers.
Politicians.
Bankers.
Celebrities.
Men whose watches probably cost more than the apartment building where Sarah lived.
And then there was Adrian Vale.
She knew who he was because everyone in New York knew who he was.
Officially, Adrian was the thirty-six-year-old billionaire CEO of Vale International.
Unofficially?
People lowered their voices when they said his name.
There were rumors about docks, casinos, judges, unions, disappeared rivals, and a criminal organization that controlled half the Eastern Seaboard without ever appearing on paper.
Sarah didn't know which stories were true.
She only knew nobody touched Adrian Vale.
Nobody interrupted him.
Nobody looked at him for too long.
Tonight he stood near the center of the ballroom in a black tuxedo, surrounded by men who looked more like soldiers than executives.
Yet Sarah barely noticed him.
She noticed the little boy beside him.
Maybe six years old.
Dark hair.
Tiny tuxedo.
Miserable expression.
While Adrian spoke with an older senator, the child slowly wandered away.
Sarah smiled when he stopped beside the dessert table.
“You planning a robbery?”
The boy jumped.
Sarah nodded toward the chocolate cake.
“Because you're looking at that thing like you're about to steal it.”
His mouth twitched.
“Dad says I can't have any.”
“Your dad sounds unreasonable.”
“He says sugar makes me crazy.”
Sarah lowered her voice.
“Between you and me, adults blame sugar for everything.”
The boy almost laughed.
Almost.
Then his eyes moved past Sarah.
His face changed.
Sarah noticed it instantly.
“What?”
The boy didn't answer.
She followed his stare.
A waiter stood near the service entrance.
Black vest.
White shirt.
Champagne tray.
Nothing unusual.
Except he wasn't looking at the guests.
He was looking directly at the boy.
And beneath the silver tray, something metallic appeared inside his hand.
Sarah's mind didn't understand it.
Her body did.
She dropped the glasses.
The crash turned heads.
The man raised his arm.
Sarah lunged.
“GET DOWN!”
She slammed into the child.
The first gunshot sounded like a firecracker inside the ballroom.
Pain exploded through Sarah's shoulder.
She fell over the boy.
People screamed.
A second bullet struck her side.
She couldn't breathe.
The child was crying beneath her.
“Stay down,” Sarah gasped.
Another shot.
The third bullet hit somewhere beneath her collarbone.
Everything became strangely quiet.
Security men opened fire.
Guests crawled beneath tables.
Someone screamed for an ambulance.
Sarah looked down.
The boy was untouched.
That was all that mattered.
“You're okay,” she whispered.
He clutched her uniform.
“Don't die.”
Sarah tried to smile.
“I'll put it on my schedule.”
Then a shadow fell across them.
Adrian Vale.
The ruthless billionaire didn't look ruthless anymore.
He looked terrified.
“Ethan!”
“Dad!”
Adrian dropped to his knees.
His son reached for him, but Adrian's eyes had already moved to Sarah.
Blood soaked through her white blouse and green catering vest.
Too much blood.
Far too much.
His face went white.
“Who is she?”
Nobody answered.
Sarah blinked slowly.
The ceiling lights were smearing together.
“Sir,” one of Adrian's men said. “We need to secure you.”
Adrian didn't move.
He pressed both hands against Sarah's wounds.
“Ambulance!”
“Already coming.”
“Then make it come faster!”
His voice shook the room.
Sarah stared at him.
Up close, he didn't look like a monster.
He looked like a father who had almost watched his child die.
“You should…”
Her voice broke.
Adrian leaned closer.
“What?”
“Check your son.”
“He's alive because of you.”
“Good.”
Her eyes closed.
“No.”
Adrian grabbed her face.
“Look at me.”
Sarah forced her eyes open.
“What's your name?”
“Sarah.”
“Sarah what?”
“Miller.”
“Stay awake, Sarah Miller.”
She gave a weak laugh.
“You always this bossy?”
“Yes.”
The paramedics rushed inside.
They tried to pull Adrian away.
He refused.
“Sir, we need room.”
“She's losing blood.”
“We know.”
“You don't know enough.”
“Mr. Vale—”
“Save her.”
One paramedic looked at Sarah's chest, then at Adrian.
“We're going to do everything we can.”
“That isn't what I said.”
His voice dropped.
“Save her.”
Ethan clung to his father's jacket.
“Daddy, don't let her die.”
Something changed in Adrian's face.
He looked around the destroyed ballroom.
At terrified politicians.
At armed guards.
At cameras already recording.
At enemies he could no longer identify.
Then his gaze returned to the dying waitress.
And Adrian Vale made a decision no one understood.
He stood.
“Listen carefully.”
The room fell silent.
Even the paramedics looked up.
Adrian pointed toward Sarah.
“From this moment forward, she is under my protection.”
His lawyer stepped forward.
“Adrian—”
“No one approaches her without my permission.”
“Sir, we need to go.”
Adrian ignored them.
Then he said the words that would be on every television screen in America by sunrise.
“She is my wife now.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Sarah stared at him.
Even half-conscious, she managed one word.
“What?”
Adrian bent down and lifted her carefully into his arms.
His expression hardened again.
But his eyes were different.
“You saved my son.”
Sirens screamed outside.
“And until I know who tried to kill him,” Adrian whispered, “being my wife is the only title powerful enough to keep you alive.”
Across the ballroom, someone quietly slipped through a service door.
Someone who had heard everything.
Someone who had ordered the assassination.
May you like
And now Sarah Miller had become a problem that needed to disappear.
Before she woke up.
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