“Jerri McMahon was a ruthless Wall Street executive, hiding a massive scar and a permanently dead sense of taste behind a flawless, icy mask. But her carefully rebuilt life shattered when a hostile takeover aggressively targeted her company. The attacker was Emerson Oneal, the man who publicly humiliated her seven years ago, causing her to crash into a champagne pyramid and leaving her bleeding on the floor. Now, he forced her back to the exact club where she had lost her dignity. He paraded another woman on his lap and forced Jerri to swallow straight vodka to prove her sincerity. He didn't just want her company; he handed her an execution contract, demanding she surrender all her core patents for pennies. "You owe the Oneal family a life," Emerson spat. "You are going to pay for my mother's death." The accusation hit Jerri like lightning. She had desperately tried to save his mother from falling off that balcony. For seven years, she tortured herself, believing she simply wasn't good enough for him. She never realized that in his mind, she was a literal murderer. The last microscopic ghost of the love she once held for him completely died, leaving only cold ash. Wearing a blinding crimson gown-the exact color of her blood from that night-she snatched her clutch. "I would rather burn my company to the ground with my own two hands than give you a single cent." She turned her back on the man she once loved, officially igniting a brutal war to the death.”