"I don't need you to want me. I need you to sign before my father runs out of time." Jessica White never wanted a headline life. She wanted a career, a decent apartment, and a father who'd see next Christmas. When his diagnosis erases what little her family has left, she takes the only trade still on the table: a year of her life for a stranger's name. Luca Pastosh doesn't do love. He does calculations, and Jessica is the answer to a problem he can't solve any other way: a wife with no ties to the empire he was born into, willing to disappear the moment the contract ends. He gives her exactly what she asked for. He does not expect her to notice the nights he can't remember, or the version of himself he has spent his whole life hiding. Jessica isn't supposed to care what happens to him once the year is up. She isn't supposed to keep his secrets. But somewhere between the cameras and the silence, the rules they set for each other start to slip, and someone far too close watches, waiting for the exact moment it will hurt the most. When the truth finally surfaces, it will cost Luca everything he built his life to protect. Jessica will have to decide if what's left standing is worth staying for.