Chapter 1
"I was standing outside my girlfriend’s house in jeans and an old hoodie when her mother pulled up in a luxury SUV. She took one look at me and asked, “How much money do you need to stay away from my daughter?”
I thought I had heard her wrong.
“Excuse me?”
Mrs. Whitmore slammed the car door and walked straight toward me.
“You heard me.”
I had come to pick up her daughter, Madison, for dinner in Beverly Hills.
Nothing fancy.
Just burgers at a place Madison loved.
Her mother looked me up and down like I had tracked mud onto her driveway.
“You’re Ethan, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She folded her arms.
“Madison says she’s serious about you.”
“I’m serious about her too.”
That only seemed to make her angrier.
“My daughter has a future.”
“So do I.”
She laughed.
“You work at some little tech company, don’t you?”
I almost corrected her, but stopped myself.
Madison knew my family had money.
Her mother didn’t.
Mrs. Whitmore opened her purse and pulled out a checkbook.
“Ten thousand dollars.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Take it and disappear.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
“I don’t want your money.”
“Twenty-five thousand.”
“No.”
“Fifty.”
I shook my head.
She stepped closer.
“Everyone has a price.”
Before I could answer, Madison came running out of the house.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
Mrs. Whitmore held up the check.
“I’m protecting you from someone who clearly wants access to this family’s money.”
Madison’s face went red.
“Ethan doesn’t need our money.”
Her mother laughed again.
Then a black Bentley stopped behind my car.
The driver stepped out, opened the rear door, and my father emerged in a suit.
Mrs. Whitmore froze.
May you like
My father looked at her, then at the check in her hand.
“Ethan,” he said calmly, “is this the woman whose company asked me for a fifty-million-dollar investment this morning?”
