CHAPTER 1: THE BODY THEY PROMISED
Alina’s voice trembled, but she didn’t step back.
“What body?”
Spencer didn’t lie. Men like him didn’t survive long if they did.
“Yours,” he said quietly.
The word didn’t feel real. It floated in the air between them, weightless and impossible.
Alina shook her head once, like she could dislodge it. “No… that doesn’t make sense. I’m already here. The deal is done.”
“That’s exactly why it makes sense.”
He moved closer, slow enough not to startle her.
“Your father didn’t sell you to me to marry you,” Spencer continued. “He sold you to disappear you. Clean. Public wedding. Then a tragedy. A grieving husband. No questions asked.”
Her stomach turned cold.
“And Mosley?” she whispered.
Spencer’s jaw tightened. “He needs something buried. Your father needed money and protection. You were the collateral.”
Alina let out a breath that felt like breaking glass.
May you like
All her life, she had believed she was nothing.
She had never imagined she was worth killing.
