### Chapter 1
The day my mother found out she was pregnant with her second child, my father's mistress ran her down with a car.
Blood spread out from under her, and the baby was thrown clear of her body. My billionaire father didn't punish the mistress. She was so frightened she burst into tears, so he pulled every last doctor off my mother and sent them to treat the woman's hemophobia instead.
On a bitter night with snow pouring down, I lost my mother forever.
At seven, I was dumped in an orphanage, where I was bullied and tormented for years.
Then, at sixteen, John Farley, the young heir of the Farley family, took me out of that place and swore he would protect me for the rest of my life.
With John's help and my own relentless grind, day and night, fifteen years later I became the head of the multi-billion-dollar Young empire.
In the second year of our secret marriage, I overheard him talking to my assistant.
"Working at Young Group is Serena's dream. It wouldn't look right coming from me, so recommend her to Jennifer Young for me."
"Jennifer hates betrayal more than anything. Whatever you do, don't let her find out Serena is my lover."
I stood in the corridor outside the study, one hand resting on my five-month belly, my heart wrung tight by the shadows deep in the hall, going cold inch by inch.
The next day, my assistant set a resume on my desk and pushed hard for her.
"Ms. Young, this girl is a Harvard graduate. During her internship she was outstanding, and she takes initiative like no one else. This is exactly the kind of talent we're short on."
I opened the resume in silence. The girl in the photo was young and pretty, smiling with total confidence.
When my eyes reached the line for her parents' names, my breath caught.
Those two names stabbed into my heart like blades, and that bloody, freezing night from more than twenty years ago swallowed me all over again.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then had my assistant bring Serena Barrett in.
Serena stopped in front of my desk, chin lifted, her eyes full of certainty that this was already hers.
I raised my head, studied her for several seconds, then said coldly,
"Serena Barrett. You're not qualified to work at Young Group."
...
The moment the words left my mouth, the air went dead still.
My assistant, standing to the side, froze. He wiped the sweat from his forehead in a panic and lowered his voice.
"Ms. Young, every department manager pushed hard for her. Every project she's touched has come back with zero complaints from clients. She placed first in her group in both evaluations."
I ignored him and kept my eyes on Serena.
The smile at the corner of her mouth stiffened slightly, but she recovered fast.
"Ms. Young, you can verify every one of my results."
She pushed the file she'd brought across the desk toward me, tapping the cover with one fingertip.
"If there's a problem with my ability, then don't take me. But rejecting months of my hard work with no basis at all, that's a decision I can't accept."
Her back was ramrod straight, her eyes full of defiance.
How much she looked like her mother. The same fine features, the same dazzling confidence.
Maybe because she'd been raised in the palm of someone's hand, never once wronged, so the moment she was turned down she put on that "surely there's been a mistake" face.
The John Farley who swore over and over he'd be faithful to me, was this what he'd fallen for? This beauty and confidence she'd been born with? Just like my father, when he betrayed my mother?
I pressed down the sting deep in my chest and answered evenly.
"There's nothing wrong with your ability."
Confusion rose in her eyes. "Then why?"
I lifted my coffee cup, took a slow sip, and only then said it.
"Because I don't want to use you."
Serena went blank. It was several seconds before she found her voice. "This doesn't follow proper hiring procedure! If I report this to senior management, or file a complaint with the industry regulators—"
"Complain all you like."
I cut her off, set down the coffee, and leaned back in my chair.
"This is my company. Who I hire and who I don't is nobody's business but mine."
Serena's face finally changed.
She bit down hard on her lower lip, and the composure and arrogance in her eyes gave way, little by little, to fury.
She'd probably never been treated this way in her life.
For as long as she could remember, she was the one who stood out in any crowd, the one everyone fought to have.
"You're targeting me."
There was a tremble in her voice, but not from fear. From anger.
I looked her in the eye and neither denied it nor admitted it.
"You think you're good enough that everyone should want you?" I smiled and lifted my gaze. "You think that because you placed first, because you got straight top marks, the whole world should step aside for you?"
"What?"
"You're wrong." I stared into her wide eyes. "The world has never owed you a thing. All those things you take for granted are just a road someone else paved for you."
Her eyes reddened all at once.
"You know me?" She stared at me, her voice shaking a little. "Who exactly are you?"
