Chapter 1

To pay off my dad's massive debts, I became the personal maid to the city's most dangerous billionaire heir.

Word on the street was that none of his maids ever lasted more than three months.

Serve his soup too hot? Dead.

Wear a perfume he hates? Dead.

Speak a little too loudly? Dead.

To stay alive, I brought a mini battery fan with me the very first day I stepped foot into his mansion.

Every single dish that passed through my hands was blown completely cold.

His steak was practically frozen solid.

*Look, if the steak gets stiff, at least my corpse won't have to!*

Little did I know, the billionaire sitting at the dining table could hear my exact thoughts.

His hand froze mid-air.

"What did you just say?"

I deliberately squeezed my vocal cords into the squeakiest, sweetest baby voice I could muster.

"I didn't say anything, sir~"

*I squeezed my voice so high it's practically ultrasonic. There's no way he can kill me for being too loud now, right?*

Julian Sterling stared straight at me, his knuckles turning white around his silver fork.

That was the first time I got a clear look at his face.

A high, sharp nose bridge, hooded obsidian eyes, and a single, intoxicating beauty mark right beneath his lower lid.

*Holy hell, he's gorgeous. A face so hot it would turn straight men insane and cure a woman's hormonal imbalance on the spot! He's literally the cure for clinical depression, an alarm clock for comatose patients, and a miracle for all womankind!!*

*I'd marry you in a heartbeat, even if you wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole.*

*Clatter.*

The fork slipped from his fingers, hitting the mahogany table with a loud crack.

Julian stared at me in utter disbelief.

The moment I looked back, he jerked his gaze away.

The tips of his ears were burning a furious crimson.

*Is it that hot in here? Is his blood pressure spiking? He should probably drink some tomato beef soup to cool down.*

Awkwardly tugging at his tie, Julian let out an aggressively casual, rehearsed cough.

"Go to the kitchen and bring me some tomato soup."

He paused, clearing his throat again.

"Feeling a bit overheated."

*Ha! Called it!*

I bowed respectfully.

"Right away, sir."

Knowing how to read the boss's mind means I'm one step closer to surviving three months and clearing my debt!

To pay for my mom's cancer treatments, my dad had drained every single penny we owned.

I gave up my scholarship to an Ivy League university just to work odd jobs and save money.

Yet the cash I brought in was just a drop in the ocean compared to the mountain of hospital bills.

That night, my dad chain-smoked the cheapest pack of cigarettes until dawn—half of them were discarded butts he'd picked off the pavement.

With shaking hands, he said to me,

"I'm so sorry, Nina."

"I had no choice. I took out a loan from loan sharks."

Knowing he could never pay it back, he took me and ran.

But Julian Sterling's enforcers tracked my mom down to the hospital anyway.

The Sterling family ruled both the corporate world and the criminal underworld.

To people like them, lives like ours were completely disposable.

The lead debt collector pulled out a switchblade and shoved it against my dad's chest.

"Pay up, or pay with your life."

My mom broke down, screaming that she'd rather pull her own plug and die.

Dad's eyes were bloodshot as he rasped,

"Take Nina and live. You have to survive."

I instantly knew what he was about to do.

Right before the blade could pierce through my dad's flesh, I threw myself onto my knees and dropped before Julian Sterling.

"Sir! I heard you're looking for a personal maid."

I lifted my head to look at him.

The man stood against the light, his sharp silhouette cutting through the dim hospital corridor.

He was dressed in a bespoke suit without a single wrinkle, looking down coldly at me as I knelt by his polished leather shoes.

I tuned out my parents' hysterical sobbing.

I threw away every scrap of pride I had clung to for the past eighteen years.

Crawling at his feet, I said,

"Take me. Use my life to pay their debt."

Julian didn't say a word.

The frantic thumping of my heart roared in my ears, loud as thunder.

*As long as I can survive... as long as they can live...*

*I'll do anything.*

After what felt like an eternity, I heard a very faint, dry scoff.

He said,

"Deal."