The Fiancé He Severely Underestimated

betrayed me for a "pure" girl named Ember, sacrificing a piece of our empire for he

ld never leave, that I neede

mother's last keepsake, a small mus

as a cold, calculating machine. He thought

leave him. He was abo

de a single call to his estr

said, my voice ic

pte

lipped on my hand just last week, at the Bellagio fountains, a public spectacle that had sealed our legend as Las Vegas' s King

very victory, we shared. Our empire wasn't just built on concrete and ambition; it was forged in a fire that only two people who had nothing could understand.

nufactured calm of my office. It was Carl

preamble. "It's Jax

sino owner we' d been trying to squeeze out for months. Jax and Harris clashi

betraying nothing. My heart, however, was

s at the old warehouse we used for the downtown acqu

so violently I had to grip the edge of my desk. A girl. Not business. Not a negotiation gone wrong. This was

my voice regaining its steel. "And arrange for a clean-up crew. No loose ends." I had to see it

of blood and the acrid smell of burnt wiring. Gonzalo Harris lay on the concrete floor, a c

e by Carlisle on the drive over, felt foreign, wrong. Her clothes were artfully torn, her face streaked with dust and tears, but she looked... fragile. Innocent. Jax' s han

lee despite his injuries. "Come to see your king play hero for his little muse?" He spit, a bloody gob landing near my polished

ven look at Harris. His gaze was locked on me, a mixture of guilt and defiance. But it

a gun from his waistband. The click of the safet

shot cracked, loud and brutal. Harris screamed, a primal sound of agony, clutching

t a cold hollowness. This wasn't the Jax I knew. Or ma

r this little bird, don't you? What if I told you I have her family? Her little brother, perhaps? A simple t

ing visibly, to Harris, then back to Ember. The conflict was clear.

information about our struggling business. Jax had been ready to concede everything. I had intervened, ruthless and cold, sile

t Jax, ignoring his bewildered look. I pulled out my own phone. "Carlisle, execute the contingency plan for

ou," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, "tak

ond, a silent plea in his eyes, but it was too late. He gently took Ember's hand, his

I needed to know where they were going. I needed to see just how deep this cut was. They led me to the dilapidated apartment building on the outskirts of down

iece. "His affair with Ember. It's been going on for months, Ava. Since the Bellagio proposal, even earlier." The

rning sensation clawing its way up. I closed my eyes, but the images of our past in that apartment, overlaying the sounds of their present, were a torment. The sm

ar. The 50/50 partnership agreement, the meticulously drafted document that bound Jax and me, lay on my desk. I picked it up, the thick

ered, the words a vow. "He'l

riend, Liam, was there, the only one Jax still confided in. I stayed in the shadows, cloak

, I feel human again. She's pure, you know?" He chuckled, a sound that scraped aga

bitious woman I had become for us, for him. He didn' t see the girl who loved him fiercely, who had sacrificed everything for o

just turn to ice; it shattered into razor-sharp fragments, each one burning with a vow. He t

had always resisted. Jax' s estranged, powerful political family in Washington D.C. The Briggs. He never wanted to be associ

e phone, my voice devoid of any war

ibution. And Jax Madden was about to learn just how ruthless Ava Sandoval could truly be.