The number was $180,000. My brother had just three months.I was a waitress with cracked hands, borrowed shoes, and one rule which was never apologize for something I didn’t do. So when a woman in red silk tripped me and twelve glasses of champagne soaked the most powerful man in the room, I told the truth.“She tripped me.”Adrian Kane should have had me fired. Instead, he looked at me like I was the first real thing he had seen in years. Then he made me an offer.“Be my wife for one year, for two million dollars and your brother lives.”I said no. Then I walked to the hospital in my socks, watched Eli sleep, and said yes.The contract had one rule in bold which was that neither party shall fall in love.It should have been easy. He didn’t do feelings and I didn’t do hope.But his uncle was watching carefully. His ex was sharpening her knife too. And the man who swore he had no heart kept leaving his bedroom door open at night.Then I learned that my dead mother’s name was written on a sealed envelope that belonged to my husband’s family. Someone had planned this marriage long before I ever spilled that champagne.One year, one lie, and a husband I was never supposed to love.When the contract ends, who will walk away?