Don’t Run, Billionaire

Twenty-four-year-old American girl Riley Hart returned to Miami with her luggage after completing her Master’s degree in Financial Compliance in Milan. She had only one reason for coming back. Four years ago, when she left the United States to pursue her studies, she asked Julian Vale, who was ten years her senior: "Will you marry me when I graduate?" Julian had replied back then: "Graduate first. Then come back and ask me again." Now she had graduated. So she came back. What Riley did not know was that the moment she stepped out of Miami International Airport, the Federal Financial Crimes Investigation Unit had begun secretly photographing her. Because Julian Vale was far more than the pale, quiet, frail heir to a wealthy family she remembered. He was the person in charge of the Vale family’s multi-billion-dollar business empire. He was also the ultimate controller of a massive underground cross-border capital network. His health was poor. He took medication on a long-term basis. He occasionally needed a cane or even a wheelchair. Yet everyone in Miami’s underground financial circle knew: Julian Vale did not need to get his own hands dirty. With just one signature, he could make tens of millions of dollars vanish. Riley found him brimming with excitement. Her first words: "I graduated." Her second: "You owe me a wedding." Julian, however, handed her a plane ticket back to Europe for the next day. "Go back."