Chapter 1 - THE FOUR-HUNDRED-DOLLAR BOSS
At 11:58 p.m., Iris Dunn stood beneath the towering crystal chandeliers of Bellamy’s Hartwell Gallery, clutching a diamond necklace worth one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Her fingers were trembling. Across from her stood the tall, immaculately dressed man she had bossed around for the last six hours—holding her clutch, tasting her drinks, and guarding her back.
He was not her hired security. Sentinel Protective Services had canceled at the last second, leaving Iris stranded in an emerald clearance gown with Eleanor Ashford’s priceless heirloom around her neck and an arrogant ex-boyfriend, Preston Mercer, circling like a vulture. Desperate, Iris had spotted a broad-shouldered man in a charcoal suit standing like a watchful sentinel near the west pillars, assumed he was her replacement, and immediately put him to work.
That man was Rafe Calder.
May you like
In Bellamy, Calder was a legendary name whispered behind closed doors—an intimidating titan who commanded real estate, logistics, and parts of the underworld no one dared mention aloud. He had come to the gallery on private business concerning a corrupt consultant named Victor Sarin, only to find himself handed a woman’s purse and instructed to "loom effectively." To his own surprise, Rafe had played along. When someone cut the ballroom lights and tried to tear the diamonds from Iris’s throat in the dark, Rafe had shielded her with his own body, taking the blow and keeping her safe.
Now, standing in the quiet lobby, Iris saw the three black sedans outside, the earpiece-wearing operatives, and the cold realization struck her. She had given performance notes to the city’s most feared man. Yet beneath the terror was a sharp, undeniable truth: she had never felt safer in her entire life.
