My mother's jade bracelet sat innocently in its velvet box, but all I could see was a trap. Three hundred million dollars. My father's desperate plea. Sebastian's calculated interest. None of it felt right.
The realization crashed over me like ice water. I wasn't a business partner to the Sinclairs. I wasn't even a romantic interest. I was a resource. A perfect blood match.
My fingers shook as I touched my inner elbow, where countless needles had pierced my skin over the years for Alistair's transfusions. How many times had I been bled for love? And now, was I being courted for the same reason, only with fancier packaging?
"No," I whispered to my empty apartment. "Not again."
I paced the room, mind racing. If Sebastian truly wanted my blood—or worse, my organs—how far would he go? The Sinclairs had enough power to make people disappear. They had enough money to buy silence.
And I had stupidly, naively fallen for his charm.
