The champagne flute shattered against the marble floor, and I watched the golden liquid spread like blood across the pristine white tiles of the Sterling Grand Hotel ballroom.
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" My voice came out steadier than I felt.
My father wouldn't meet my eyes. His hands trembled as he loosened his silk tie, and for the first time in my twenty-four years, I saw Richard Chen the man who built an empire from nothing look utterly defeated.
"The company is bankrupt, Aria. We have thirty days before everything we own is seized by creditors."
The words hit me like a physical blow. Chen Industries. The textile empire my grandfather started sixty years ago. The company I'd spent the last three years of my life modernizing, breathing new life into. Gone.
"How?" I demanded, my designer heels crunching on broken glass as I stepped closer. "I reviewed the quarterly reports last month. We were profitable. The European expansion was succeeding beyond projections."
Dad's jaw clenched. "Those reports were… manipulated."
Ice flooded my veins. "By whom?"
Before he could answer, my mother's hand landed on my shoulder. Victoria Chen had always been the picture of elegance, but tonight her makeup couldn't quite hide the redness around her eyes.
"Sweetheart, there's more." Her voice cracked. "Your father made a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"The Blackwood family has agreed to absorb our debts and save the company." Dad finally looked at me, and what I saw in his eyes made my stomach drop. "In exchange for a marriage alliance."
For a moment, I couldn't breathe. Marriage alliance. Like we were living in some historical drama instead of modern-day New York City.
"You're joking." But I knew he wasn't. My father never joked about business.
"You'll marry Adrian Blackwood. The wedding is scheduled for three weeks from today."
Adrian Blackwood.
The name alone sent fury coursing through me. I'd never met the man, but I knew exactly who he was. The eldest son of Marcus Blackwood, CEO of Blackwood Enterprises the multinational conglomerate that had been our biggest competitor for decades. I'd seen his photos in Forbes and Business Insider. Cold gray eyes. Sharp jawline. A man who wore expensive suits like armor and reportedly made grown executives cry in board meetings.
But more importantly, he was her brother.
"No." The word came out flat, final. "Absolutely not."
"Aria"
"I will not marry into the family of the woman who destroyed my life!" My voice rose despite my best efforts to stay composed. "Have you forgotten what Vanessa Blackwood did to me?"
How could they forget? It had only been a year since the scandal that rocked our social circle. Vanessa Blackwood my best friend since kindergarten, my college roommate, my maid of honor at my almost-wedding had slept with my fiancé two weeks before our wedding.
I'd found them together in my apartment. In my bed.
The betrayal had been splashed across every gossip column in the city. The broken engagement. The humiliation. I'd spent six months rebuilding myself, learning to trust again, throwing myself into work to forget.
And now my parents wanted me to marry her brother.
"This is different," Mom said softly. "Adrian had nothing to do with what Vanessa did"
"They're family! He probably laughed about it with her over Sunday brunch!"
"We don't have a choice." Dad's voice turned hard, the businessman reasserting control. "It's this or we lose everything. The house. The company. Your mother's medical treatments."
I froze. "What medical treatments?"
Mom and Dad exchanged a look that told me everything I didn't want to know.
"Mom?" My voice came out small, childlike.
"I was going to tell you after the gala." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I was diagnosed with stage three cancer last month. The treatments are expensive, and without the company's insurance…"
The room tilted. I reached for the back of a nearby chair to steady myself.
Cancer. Bankruptcy. Forced marriage.
My entire world was crumbling, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"When do I meet him?" I heard myself ask.
"Tomorrow. Lunch at Aureole, one o'clock." Dad pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket. "The preliminary contract terms. I suggest you read them tonight."
I took the envelope with numb fingers. It was heavy, expensive paper. The Blackwood family crest was embossed on the seal a black bird with spread wings, clutching a crown in its talons.
Fitting. They were vultures, picking at our corpse.
"There's one more thing you should know," Mom said quietly. "Adrian requested this marriage."
My head snapped up. "What?"
"When your father approached the Blackwoods for a loan, Adrian was the one who suggested a marriage instead. He specifically asked for you."
A chill ran down my spine. "Why would he do that? I've never even met him."
"We don't know. He wouldn't say."
I stared at the envelope in my hands, a dozen questions racing through my mind. Adrian Blackwood was thirty-two years old, a billionaire in his own right, and had been named one of the world's most eligible bachelors three years running. He could marry anyone.
Why me? Why specifically request the daughter of his family's rival?
Was this some elaborate revenge plot cooked up by Vanessa? A way to humiliate me further?
"I need air," I muttered, already moving toward the ballroom's terrace doors.
"Aria, wait"
But I was already gone, pushing through the crowd of New York's elite who had gathered for tonight's charity gala. I caught snippets of conversation as I passed.
"heard Chen Industries is in trouble"
"always knew Richard was overextended"
"such a shame, Victoria looked so tired tonight"
They knew. Somehow the vultures always knew when one of their own was bleeding.
I burst onto the terrace and gulped in the cool October air. The Manhattan skyline glittered before me, a thousand lights in the darkness. Somewhere out there, Adrian Blackwood was probably in his penthouse, planning our wedding like a corporate merger.
Because that's all this was. A business transaction. I was being sold to save my family.