The Ruby Shackle: Bound To The Billionaire

I’m a CIA operative known as "The Auditor," and for months, I’ve played the role of a pathetic, abused ward in Basil Dean’s mansion. My mission was simple: gather intel on a paranoid billionaire while pretending to be a girl who flinches at her own shadow and knows nothing of the world. The balance shattered when Basil found a photo of me smiling at a local mechanic. He didn't just get angry; he dragged me into his soundproof vault, his leather-gloved thumb pressing into my carotid artery to feel the frantic, terrified thrum of my heart. He tagged me with a ruby bracelet—a high-tech tracking device that reported my GPS and biometrics to his phone every second. His stepsister, Corine, smelled blood in the water, accusing me of theft while Basil watched my heart rate spike on his screen like a lab rat in a cage. I was trapped in a gilded nightmare, forced to scrub floors and endure his predatory stares while a fifty-thousand-dollar shackle recorded my every breath. I couldn't tell if he was a grieving recluse or a shark playing with his food, but every time my signal dropped, he was there, looming in the shadows, waiting for me to slip up. I was drowning in a game where the rules changed every time I tried to fight back, and the agency was starting to think I’d turned. To end the charade, I handed the bracelet back to him in front of the entire kitchen staff, a public rejection of his twisted ownership. Basil didn't blink; he took a heavy meat mallet and smashed the ruby to dust right in front of me before making a phone call that turned my mission into a death trap. "Get the prenup ready," he hissed, his eyes burning with a terrifying, sane obsession. "I'm marrying her."

Chapters

Chapter 3

The sunroom was blindingly bright.

Audie stood on a ladder, wiping the floor-to-ceiling glass. Her arm ached, but the rhythmic motion was grounding. Through the glass, she could see the manicured gardens. Basil was out there, walking Duchess. He was limping.

"Audie, come down from there."

Corine sat at the wrought-iron table, sipping tea from bone china. She looked benevolent today.

Audie climbed down. She missed the last step and stumbled.

"Careful," Corine chided gently. She placed a slip of paper on the table. "For the dress. And for your... trouble last night."

Audie picked it up. A check for five hundred dollars.

She widened her eyes. She looked at Corine and shook her head, pushing the check back across the table.

"Nonsense. A girl needs to look presentable. I can't have you walking around smelling like fast food," Corine insisted, her smile not reaching her eyes. "Basil has been under a lot of pressure with the asset freeze. If he takes it out on you, just know it's the illness talking."

Audie gave a small, reluctant nod, leaving the check on the table.

The glass door slid open.

Basil walked in. Duchess strained at the leash, barking ferociously at Audie.

Audie shrieked and ducked behind Corine's chair.

"Control that beast, Basil!" Corine snapped.

Basil shortened the leash. He looked pale, sweat beading on his forehead despite the chill morning air. His eyes landed on the check on the table.

"What is that?"

"Compensation," Corine said. "For the dress you ruined."

Basil walked over. He snatched the check from the table.

"Basil!" Corine gasped.

He ripped the check in half. Then into quarters. He let the confetti rain down onto the pristine tile.

"Deans don't give handouts to beggars," he sneered.

Audie whimpered, covering her face with her hands.

"She needs clothes, Basil," Corine said, her voice tight.

"Then I will buy them," Basil said. He stared at Audie, his gaze burning through her fingers. "I decide what she wears. I decide what she owns. She doesn't take money from anyone else. Is that clear?"

"You're being irrational," Corine said, reaching for the bell to summon the nurse. "You need your morning dose."

Basil leaned in close to Audie, under the pretense of intimidating her.

"Library. Tonight," he murmured. The sound was barely a breath. "Come collect what you're owed."

He straightened up and stormed out, dragging the growling dog with him.

Audie fled to the kitchen. Her heart was pounding, but not from fear.

She found a corner near the pantry where the cameras had a blind spot. She wiped her dry eyes.

Basil wasn't being irrational. He was cutting off her supply lines. He wanted her dependent solely on him.

She looked up at the corner of the ceiling. A new camera blinking red.

He was watching. Everywhere.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. A text from an unknown number. Arthur.

Hey. I know last night was weird. But the fair is in town this weekend. Maybe we could try again? No BBQ sauce this time. :)

Audie's thumb hovered over the delete button. Basil had warned her.

She deleted the message.

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