Chapter 1
Zarina Kas didn’t feel like a billionaire’s daughter. She felt like a woman who had worked twenty hours straight on three cups of coffee and a dream of vengeance. She sat in the back of the courtroom, smoothing her cheap polyester blazer. It wasn’t the silk she grew up with, but it was hers.
Across the aisle, a team of six lawyers in five-thousand-dollar suits sat looking smug. They represented Sagi International. They represented Malik Sagi—the man everyone called the “Great White Shark” of the city.
The judge cleared his throat. “In the matter of the construction injunction... I find in favor of the plaintiff.”
Zarina’s heart stopped. Then it did a victory lap. She had won. It was a small win—a minor delay on one of Malik’s multi-billion-dollar skyscraper projects—but she had stalled the shark. She had poked the beast.
The lead lawyer for Sagi International, a man named Henderson, turned to look at her. His face was pale. “You have no idea what you’ve just done, girl,” he hissed.
Zarina packed her battered briefcase. She leaned in, smelling his expensive cologne and his fear. “I know exactly what I did. I followed the law. Maybe your boss should try it sometime.”
She walked out of that courtroom with her head high. She had no family name to protect her anymore. She had no money in her bank account except for her meager salary. But she had his attention.
Back at her tiny, cramped apartment, Zarina kicked off her heels. The paint was peeling off the walls, and the heater hissed like a dying animal. It was a far cry from the Kas mansion, but here, no one was telling her who to marry. No one was telling her that her only job was to look pretty and stay quiet.
Her phone buzzed. It was an unknown number.
“Hello?” she said.
“Zarina Kas?” a deep, gravelly voice asked. It wasn’t the lawyer. It wasn’t her father. It was a voice that sounded like heavy velvet and dangerous promises.
“Who is this?”
“The man whose money you just wasted,” the voice replied. “And the man who is going to make sure you never win again.”
The line went dead. Zarina stared at her phone, her fingers trembling. Malik Sagi knew her name. And for some reason, the fear in her chest felt a lot like excitement.
***
Malik Sagi didn’t like losing. He didn’t like delays. And he especially didn’t like being made to look like a fool by a twenty-three-year-old girl with a law degree from a school he could buy and sell ten times over.
He stood in his penthouse office, staring out at the city skyline. At forty-three, Malik had everything. He had the power. He had the cars. He had the reputation of a man who had no soul and a heart made of ice. He had come from nothing—rough streets and a family that had betrayed him before he could even walk. He had built this empire so no one could ever hurt him again.
“Who is she, Henderson?” Malik didn’t turn around. His voice was low, vibrating through the glass of the window.
“Her name is Zarina Kas, sir,” Henderson said, his voice shaking. “She’s new. A nobody. She found a loophole in the environmental permits. It’s a minor injunction. We’ll have it cleared in a week.”
“A week?” Malik turned. His dark eyes were like flint. “A week is ten million dollars in lost time. I don’t pay you to lose to ‘nobodies.’”
Malik walked over to his desk and picked up the file. He looked at the photo of the lawyer. She wasn’t what he expected. She didn’t look like a shark. She looked... soft. Big dark eyes, thick hair pulled back in a messy bun, and a look of pure defiance that he recognized instantly. It was the look of someone who had nothing left to lose.
“Kas,” Malik whispered. The name tasted like ash in his mouth. The Kas family was old money. They were the kind of people who looked down on men like him—men who got their hands dirty to win. “Is she one of them?”
“She’s the runaway daughter,” Henderson whispered. “The one who caused the scandal last year. She left the wedding, gave up the inheritance, and disappeared.”
Malik felt a strange spark in his chest. A runaway. A rebel.
“She thinks she can hide in a courtroom and play hero?” Malik smirked, but there was no humor in it. It was a predatory look. “Bring her here.”
“Sir? To the office?”
“No,” Malik said, his gaze returning to the photo. He traced the line of her jaw with his thumb. “Bring her to my house. I want to see this ‘hero’ in person. I want to see exactly what she’s made of before I break her.”
***
Zarina was at her desk at the firm, buried under a mountain of paperwork, when two men in black suits walked in. They didn’t look like lawyers. They looked like the kind of men who broke legs for a living.
“Zarina Kas?” the taller one asked.
“Yes?” she said, standing up. Her heart was hammering against her ribs.
“Mr. Sagi wants to see you. Now.”
“I have a meeting,” she lied, her voice steady even though her knees were weak. “Tell Mr. Sagi he can call my office and schedule a time like everyone else.”
The man didn’t move. He just opened the door wider. “It wasn’t a request, Ms. Kas. There’s a car waiting.”
Zarina had a choice. she could call the police, or she could go. But the truth was, she was curious. She had spent her whole life running from powerful men—her father, her brothers, her fiancé. But Malik Sagi felt different. He was a different kind of monster.
She grabbed her bag and followed them.
The car was a black Rolls-Royce that smelled like leather and power. It drove her through the city and up into the hills, stopping at a massive estate made of glass and black stone. It looked like a fortress.
When she stepped inside, the silence was heavy. The house was cold, decorated in shades of grey and black. It didn’t feel like a home; it felt like a cage for a very dangerous animal.
She was led to a wide balcony overlooking the ocean. A man stood there, his back to her. He was tall, with broad shoulders that filled out his white dress shirt perfectly. He didn’t have a jacket on, and his sleeves were rolled up, revealing tanned, muscular forearms.
“You’re late,” he said, without turning around.
“And you’re arrogant,” Zarina snapped back.
Malik Sagi turned slowly. Up close, he was even more intimidating. He had a face that belonged on an ancient coin—sharp, handsome, and completely heartless. His eyes swept over her, from her messy hair down to her cheap shoes, and then back up to her face.
He stayed silent for a long time, his gaze so intense that Zarina felt like she was being burned. The sexual tension in the air was so thick she could almost taste it.
“You’re a Kas,” he said, his voice a low growl. “You should be at a tea party or a gala, not playing with the big boys in court.”
“I’m a lawyer,” she corrected, stepping closer. She refused to let him see her blink. “And I’m the lawyer who just stopped your project. So maybe you should stop looking at my shoes and start looking at the law.”
Malik stepped into her space. He was so close she could feel the heat radiating off his body. He was a “no-go zone.” He was too old, too dangerous, and her absolute enemy.
“I don’t care about the law, Zarina,” he whispered, leaning down so his lips were inches from her ear. “I care about what I want. And right now, I’m trying to decide if I want to sue you into the ground... or if I want to see how loud you can scream.”
Zarina’s breath hitched. The battle of wits had officially begun.
