He was forbidden to marry a Vale. She was the one woman he couldn't let go.Claire Vale thought her mother's death was a tragedy — until a stranger appeared at the funeral and told her it might have been murder.Ethan Blackwood is a billionaire, a mafia heir, and the man her mother warned her about. His father left one rule before he died: _Never marry a Vale._But when Claire's mother's black diary goes missing, threatening messages start coming, and a 10-year-old secret about Ethan's missing brother begins to unravel, Ethan offers her a dangerous deal: a six-month contract marriage.He will protect her. She will help him find the truth.But Blackwood Manor hides missing women, locked rooms, and a family that kills to keep secrets buried. And the closer Claire gets to the truth, the harder it becomes to leave the man she was forbidden to have.Was her mother murdered? Is his brother still alive? And what happens when a fake marriage becomes dangerously real?*