Prologue
Alex Rose has agreed to play Callum O’Leary’s game: win seven challenges of his choosing and walk away with a million dollars. Twenty-nine women have tried before her. None have won.
The catch? Every time Alex loses a game, she has to submit to one of Callum’s punishments. His punishments escalate, which is why no woman has ever won Callum’s game.
Callum doesn’t expect any woman to win, let alone Alex.
His desires are dark and twisted, which is why he plays these games.
As a self-made millionaire, Callum doesn’t need to entice women to go out with him.
They already throw themselves at him. He plays these games though, because it’s the only way for him to really get what he wants.
Which is to push women to their breaking points.
Alex has won four games so far.
And she’s falling for Callum… hard.
Callum was falling for her too. That is, until he caught her texting his co-founder, Trent.
Callum watched Alex lie to his face and tell him she was texting her mom. Which he knew was a lie.
Callum is confused. On one hand, he knows he has no right to be angry, since he and Alex aren’t exclusive.
On the other hand, making a move on his co-founder and lying to his face about it is pretty shady.
It’s worse than shady, actually. It’s unforgivable.
And it reinforced everything Callum already thought about the world — that people are flawed and can’t be trusted.
So Callum did what he always does. He retaliated and punished Alex with a brutal punishment.
What Callum doesn’t know, though, is that he has it all wrong.
Alex has been texting Trent, but not for the reason Callum thinks. Alex and Trent have been texting because they’re cooking up a plan to get Callum’s competitive spirit back.
Callum has been getting soft in business lately, and Trent thinks it’s because Callum’s falling in love with Alex. Trent told Alex that if she doesn’t want Callum to lose his competitive edge, she should make Callum jealous.
Alex was skeptical at first. But she felt like she should at least hear Trent out, which is why they’ve been texting and concocting a plan.
Alex doesn’t know that Callum knows she’s been texting Trent… and thinks Alex has betrayed him.
And Callum’s keeping that information to himself…for now.
Because it’s time to play another game.
And now that Callum knows Alex can’t be trusted, he won’t be throwing any more games…
From now on, Callum is playing to win.