I walked out of the Morton Group building and stopped at the base. Turned. Looked up at the landmark tower cutting through Graystone's skyline.
Ten years ago, before we married, the Morton family wasn't the richest in Graystone.
Back then, that title belonged to some crude real estate tycoon.
He wanted me.
Named me specifically—demanded the Simmons family hand me over.
My dad was about to agree.
But Zane knelt outside our house. Three days. Three nights. Until my dad finally relented and gave him two more years.
Two years to outmatch the richest man in the city? Nearly impossible.
I stayed up all night thinking. Then I sold the herbal medicine formula I'd spent years developing—fifty million dollars—and gave every cent to Zane.
He delivered.
In six months, he had the status to marry me.
It drizzled on our wedding day.
The cold, damp air made his knees—ruined from kneeling—ache so badly he could barely walk.
But he lifted me anyway. His face pale, his smile radiant.
"Madeline, from now on, I'll protect you. No one will ever bully you again."
That was the first time in my life someone treated me like I was precious.
So this is what it feels like to be loved.
But…
Could love that deep actually fade?