Chapter 1

"Just a tool for my pleasure. A kept woman, fine, but Mrs. King? No way."

Those were the words of the man I'd protected with my life for five years.

Three years ago, I found him bleeding in an alley, dragging him back from the brink of death.

I helped him navigate ruthless corporate battles, pulling him from bankruptcy to the pinnacle of success.

When I said I wanted to see the Northern Lights, he chartered a private jet that very night. When I mentioned loving cherry blossoms, he bought and planted an entire mountainside for me.

I thought this was love.

Until that car hit me, dragging me for hundreds of feet.

Then he walked into my hospital room, holding an agreement not to press charges, telling me to sign.

"Brittany just got back from overseas; she can't have this on her record."

Only then did I realize his ex-wife was back.

And my existence was nothing more than a used rag, discarded when convenient.

I dialed a number I hadn't touched in years:

"Code 0701, Valerie Shaw, requesting activation of the Phoenix Protocol."

They didn't know I was never just an ordinary bodyguard.