The night of the gala changed everything—not because of the chandeliers or the speeches, but because of the way people stared when she walked in with me. Olivia Harrison. Heiress to the Harrison fortune.
A woman whose last name opened doors and closed loopholes. And me—
A single dad who drove people around for a living, wearing a suit borrowed from my neighbor’s cousin. She didn’t care.
Her hand found mine in front of everyone—old money, cameras, shareholders—and she held it like she’d been waiting her whole life to. But not everyone in the room was smiling. At the top of the staircase, under a portrait the size of my apartment, stood her father—Charles Harrison.
Sharp eyes. Sharper power. When he saw me, his jaw locked like steel gears turning.
“Olivia,” he said as we approached, voice smooth as polished marble, “a word.”
She didn’t let go of my hand. “Anything you have to say to me,” she replied, “you can say to both of us.”
The crowd hushed. Champagne froze mid-air.
A violinist hit the wrong note. Charles Harrison studied me, not with curiosity—but with calculation. Like a man assessing a threat he didn’t see coming.
“This,” he said finally, “is your driver.”
Her chin lifted. “He’s the man who saved my life.”
A ripple went through the room—gasps disguised as coughs. “And,” she added, “he’s the only person who didn’t know my last name when he touched me.
Do you realize how rare that is?”
Her father’s expression didn’t change, but something old and dangerous flickered behind his eyes. “That kiss,” he said quietly, “cost us twenty million.”
My heart dropped. “What?” Olivia snapped.
“How?”
“Because the board,” he continued, “believes you acted recklessly by being alone, without security. They think you’re too emotional. Too impulsive.” He looked directly at me.
“They think you let a stranger into your life without vetting him.”
“Dad—”
He held up a hand. “They want to vote you out of your position. And a rumor is already spreading that your ‘rescuer’ might have staged the accident.”
My chest burned.
“I would never—”
He silenced me with a stare meant to flatten men twice my size. “I know you wouldn’t,” he said. For the first time that night, his voice softened.
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