Episode 1: the night she met the billionaire

The Night She Met the Billionaire

Rain poured over the streets of New York as Isabella Hayes hurried into the Blackwood Hotel.

Her shoes were soaked, her dress clung to her skin, and her hands trembled around the envelope containing her last job application.

She had been rejected from three jobs that week.

Now, she had only forty-eight hours to find enough money to prevent her family's business from being taken away.

"Please, God," she whispered. "Just one opportunity."

She had no idea that opportunity was about to walk straight into her.

Turning the corner, Isabella collided with someone.

Her envelope fell. Papers scattered across the polished marble floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, dropping to her knees to gather them.

A pair of expensive black shoes stopped beside her.

"Do you always walk around without looking where you're going?"

The deep, cold voice made her look up.

Standing before her was a tall man in a perfectly tailored black suit. His dark hair was neatly styled, and his expression suggested that the entire world had disappointed him.

Isabella recognized him immediately.

Adrian Blackwood.

The billionaire whose face appeared on business magazines and television screens.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, standing up. "But you don't have to be rude about it."

His eyebrows lifted.

People rarely spoke to Adrian Blackwood that way.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"Yes. A man who needs to learn some manners."

For the first time that evening, Adrian looked genuinely surprised.

Then his eyes fell on the papers in her hand.

"You're applying for a position here?"

"I was. Until someone made me late."

A faint smile threatened to appear on his face, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Come with me."

Isabella frowned. "Excuse me?"

"My office. Ten minutes."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because," he replied, adjusting his cufflinks, "I may have a job that pays considerably more than anything you've applied for."

She hesitated.

Something about the man warned her to be careful.

But desperation had a way of making dangerous opportunities look attractive.

"Fine," she said. "Ten minutes."

Adrian turned toward the private elevator.

Neither of them noticed the woman watching from the balcony above.

Victoria Blackwood gripped the railing as she watched Isabella follow Adrian.

Her expression hardened.

"No," she whispered. "Not another woman."

She pulled out her phone and made a call.

"Find out everything about Isabella Hayes," she ordered. "I want to know who she is, where she lives, and what she wants from Adrian."

Then she ended the call.

Because Victoria knew something Isabella didn't.

Adrian Blackwood was about to get married.

And the bride had already been chosen.