Elena Sterling never wanted to be anyone's price to pay. But when her family's company collapses under crushing debt, billionaire CEO Alexander Blackwood offers a way out on one condition: she becomes his wife. Not out of love. Not even out of desire. A contract. One year, no attachments, and a clean end. Elena agrees, refusing to let the coldest man in the city control her the way he controls everyone else. But living inside Alexander's world reveals cracks beneath his empire, secrets buried for years, a fortune built on something the Blackwood family has spent a generation hiding. When an anonymous message forces Elena to start asking questions, she uncovers a conspiracy that reaches further than she ever imagined, one that ties her own family's past to Alexander's, and threatens to destroy them both. As sabotage threatens Blackwood Holdings from the inside, suspicion turns toward Elena herself, and the marriage she agreed to survive becomes the very thing putting her in danger. Forced closer together by a threat neither can face alone, Elena and Alexander must decide whether the walls they've built to protect themselves are worth more than the truth and each other.