A Heart Worth Gambling

Payson
The first time I met him, I was in a ball gown pretending I belonged. The second time, I was falling apart.
Fifty million dollars, a casino floor, and a back office I had no business being in — that was the night my engagement ended and somehow he became the only steady thing in a room that wouldn’t stop spinning.
I didn’t mean to fall for him.
I didn’t mean to move into his penthouse either.
But I did both, and for a while…God, for a while…it felt nice.
Then he left.
No warning. No explanation.
Just gone.
Six years of silence has a way of hardening you.
I got very good at not needing anyone.
Then a tragedy struck and a letter was all that was left to me.
And an address.
That led me straight back to him.
Ledgar isn’t just the man who broke me, he’s the only person who knows the truth about who I really am.
And the truth?
It changes everything.

Ledgar
I wanted her before I knew her name.
Then I found out who she was and wanting her became the most dangerous thing I’d ever done.
A line that I crossed far to easily.
Leaving was the only way to keep her alive.
I told myself six years was long enough to bury it.
What she never knew was what it cost a man who isn’t supposed to have weaknesses.
Then she walked back through my door.
I made a promise to a dying man: protect her, show her the truth.
But promises and control come hand in hand.
She is my weakness.
The one line I’ll never stop crossing.
And I am absolutely her ruin.

**This is a forbidden love, age-gap romance. It contains mature scenes intended
for audiences 18+. Reader discretion is advised.