Chapter 1

When my family went bankrupt, Pierce Montgomery put me on the high-stakes gambling table as a wager against his greatest rival.

He looked at the man across the table and smiled coldly. "My little niece here is accomplished, educated, and used to be New York's most coveted heiress."

"If you win this hand, she's yours."

Then, right before my eyes, I watched him palm a card and deliberately throw the game.

He was my father's sworn brother, my adoptive uncle. I had loved him for ten years, and he had even promised to marry me one day.

Yet in that moment, I would rather throw myself into the hands of a stranger than spend another second loving him.

1.

I never imagined Pierce would treat me like poker chips.

My fingernails dug deep into my palms as I stared at him sitting at the head of the velvet table.

Bianca Sutton was sitting on his lap, smiling while he gazed down at her with tender affection.

Bianca was my best friend.

Pierce was the man I had loved for ten years.

"My god, how could Pierce wager Cora Hayes? Isn't she his most treasured niece?"

"Pierce worked as second-in-command under her father for over a decade and endured hell. Now that the Hayes empire has fallen, of course he's getting his revenge."

Whispers rippled through the onlookers in the VIP room.

My nails broke through the skin of my palms, drawing blood, but my face remained an icy mask.

"Mr. Kensington," Pierce called out to the man seated across from him.

"What do you think of this prize?"

Silas Kensington's dark, piercing eyes gave nothing away.

"And if I lose?"

"Then you hand over that shipment waiting at the Miami harbor," Pierce replied without hesitation.

After my father died, Pierce seized every single asset of our family estate.

He didn't need Silas's cargo.

He used me as a bet simply to humiliate and toy with me.

After ten years of devotion, I knew his cruel mind all too well.

Blood seeped into my palm, the sharp pain shooting up my arm.

I kept my eyes fixed on Pierce.

His large hand slid casually under Bianca's silk top, while Silas spared me a single, assessing glance. "Deal the cards."

Growing up, I had never once left the borders of New York.

This was my first trip away from home, brought all the way to Miami.

Just yesterday, Pierce had held my hand and whispered softly, "Cora, you've never left New York. Let me take you out to have some real fun."

He had been my father's closest confidant.

I grew up calling him Uncle Pierce, following him around like a shadow.

Whenever he returned from business trips, he would bring back rare trinkets just to make me smile, and over time, my admiration grew into a deep, consuming love.

On my eighteenth birthday, he had walked into my bedroom and kissed me fiercely against the door.

He told me, "Cora, when you grow up, I will make you my wife."

Yet now, without a flicker of hesitation, he threw me away as a cheap bet on a casino table.