Chapter 1

My childhood sweetheart, Julian Thorne, personally destroyed my father's casino empire.

I became his plaything, someone he used whenever he needed to vent his rage.

Thinking of my father still clinging to life in the ICU, I swallowed my pride. I put on the skimpy bunny girl lingerie and tried to please him.

When he slapped my thigh and ordered me to arch my back, I obeyed, choking down the humiliation.

Just bear it. My father needs the medical money to survive.

"You really are pathetic, begging like a cheap whore."

After the torturous intimacy ended, I asked him when he would wire the money.

Instead of answering, he got dressed and dragged me to a mega-yacht.

This yacht, The Luminary, was the custom eighteenth-birthday gift my father had built for me.

Now, it belonged to someone else.

Julian kicked me behind the knees, forcing me to the floor.

"Eva's shoes are dirty. Lick them clean, Stella, and I'll wire the cash."

Eva was the mistress he kept just to torment me.

I looked up at Julian.

He waited, as he always did, for me to scream, cry, and throw a tantrum.

But this time, I was just too tired.