Her boyfriend ruined her life in a single afternoon. After six years of dating him, Elara Thorne finds out that Julian Montgomery is getting married to a billionaire's daughter. Things get worse when she learns that the company behind Julian's success has bought her bookstore and plans to tear it down, leaving her broke, jobless, and days away from losing everything she owns. Alexander Blackwood comes into her life. He is cold, powerful and untouchable. As the billionaire CEO of Blackwood Holdings, Alexander has a problem money can't fix. A clause in his grandfather's will threatens the empire he spent his life building, and the only way to keep it is to find a wife before time runs out. He makes her a simple offer. A contract marriage. He helps Elara rebuild her bookstore. She helps him keep his empire. No love. No feelings. No exceptions. But life inside the Blackwood world is far more dangerous than Elara expected. His powerful family wants her gone. Old enemies refuse to let her move on. And the closer she gets to the man behind the billionaire mask, the harder it becomes to remember that their marriage was never supposed to be real. Then a shocking secret threatens to destroy everything. A secret involving betrayal, greed, and powerful people willing to do anything to protect themselves. When the contract ends, will Elara walk away with the life she fought so hard to rebuild… Or will she lose her heart to the one man she was never supposed to love?