FORTUNE SECRET WITH THE BILLIONAIRE'S

The $50,000 bottle of Armand de Brignac shattered beautifully against the marble floor.

Scarlett Hayes stood in the doorway of the penthouse bedroom, champagne dripping from her trembling fingers, staring at the tangled sheets and the two naked bodies that had just scrambled apart. Her fiancé Marcus. Her stepsister Elena. In her bed. The bed where she'd stupidly saved herself for marriage because Marcus had said he wanted their wedding night to be special.

"Scarlett-baby, this isn't-" Marcus grabbed a pillow, his perfectly styled hair disheveled in a way that would have been charming yesterday.

"Isn't what?" Her voice came out remarkably steady. "Isn't you fucking my stepsister twelve hours before our wedding?"

Elena had the audacity to smirk as she reached for her dress. "Oh, Scarlett. Did you really think someone like Marcus would be satisfied with someone like you?"

Someone like her. Plain. Boring. The housekeeper's daughter who got lucky when her father married into society.

Except that wasn't the whole truth, was it? That secret burned in her chest, the one even Marcus didn't know. She was actually-

"How long?" Scarlett asked.

Marcus had the decency to look ashamed. "Six months."

Six months. They'd been engaged for eight.

Scarlett laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "Of course. Since right after Dad died."

Elena's smirk widened. "Your father was so inconvenient, wasn't he? Always going on about legacy and protecting you. Good thing Mother took care of that problem."

The words hit like a physical blow. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing," Elena said quickly, but her eyes flickered with something that looked like fear.

"Victoria killed him." The words came out as a statement, not a question, because suddenly everything made sense. Her father's "accidental" fall down the stairs. The rushed cremation. The will that mysteriously left everything to Victoria instead of Scarlett. "She killed my father for his money."

"You can't prove anything," Elena said, but she was backing toward the door. "And even if you could, who would believe the bastard daughter of a housekeeper?"

Marcus reached for his phone. "Elena, shut up-"

But Scarlett was already moving. She crossed the room in three strides and grabbed Elena by her thousand-dollar hair extensions. "Tell me the truth."

"Get off me, you crazy-"

"Tell me!"

Elena's face contorted with malice. "Fine! Yes, Mother pushed him. He was going to change his will, cut us off, give everything to you. The precious Montgomery heiress. But surprise,you're not an heiress anymore. Mother forged new documents. As far as the world knows, your father left everything to his devoted wife. You're nobody, Scarlett. A nobody with no money, no family, and after tomorrow's cancelled wedding, no reputation either."

Scarlett released her, and Elena stumbled backward into Marcus's arms.

"You're insane," Marcus said, but his eyes told a different story. He'd known. Maybe not about the murder, but he'd known about the money. "Security will be here any second-"

"Good," Scarlett said coldly. "Let's tell them about your six-month affair.