Scarlet Hayes has spent years building her career at Hayes Maritime, determined to prove she’s more than her family’s name. But when her father ties a merger with the powerful Lindqvist family to her marriage, she discovers that her future has already been negotiated without her consent. Dominik Lindqvist is wealthy, arrogant and accustomed to getting what he wants. He doesn’t need Scarlet to love him. He needs her to play her part in a business arrangement, and he has no intention of accepting her refusal. But Scarlet isn’t willing to surrender her freedom. When she challenges her family’s decision, she loses more than their approval. Her position at the company is threatened, her name becomes entangled in questionable financial dealings, and she begins uncovering a betrayal that reaches further than the proposed marriage. Then there’s Mateo Vance, her infuriating neighbour who seems to enjoy getting under her skin. Unlike the powerful men she’s used to dealing with, Mateo appears interested in Scarlet rather than her family’s influence. But he’s hiding a fortune of his own, and the truth could cost him the one thing he genuinely wants. Caught between a family determined to control her, a man who expects her obedience, and a neighbour whose secrets could shatter her trust, Scarlet must decide who deserves a place in her life and how much she’s willing to risk to reclaim it.

What would you do if your best friend abandoned her billionaire groom at the altar and asked you to marry him instead?Aurora Daisy had three problems.She was unemployed, practically broke, and had a best friend who considered her personal emergency service.Unfortunately, Jada Zoey’s latest emergency involved a wedding.Minutes before walking down the aisle, Jada called to announce that she wasn’t coming. She had chosen her lover over her billionaire fiancé and needed Aurora to take her place.Aurora should have hung up.She should have called the police.She definitely should have remembered that marrying a stranger was not a reasonable solution to unemployment.Instead, she put on Jada’s veil, walked into the courthouse and married Giovanni Chaim.A man she had never met.A man who believed she was the woman he’d been exchanging messages with.And a man who, according to the marriage agreement, was supposed to remain her husband for just one year.There was only one little problem.Giovanni’s new wife was nothing like the woman he thought he’d married.She added sugar to his tea, questioned things Jada had apparently agreed to, and had a terrible habit of answering questions honestly.For a man who liked everything planned, Aurora was becoming an increasingly inconvenient surprise.Worse, Giovanni was beginning to like her.But his suspicious father was watching, Jada was having second thoughts about abandoning her wealthy groom, and Aurora was running out of excuses.When Jada threatens to expose the truth, Aurora must decide whether to confess before the woman who abandoned the marriage destroys the one she accidentally built.And when Giovanni finally discovers that his bride isn’t the woman he married on paper, will he be able to forgive the woman he fell in love with?Or will Aurora discover that becoming a billionaire’s wife was the easiest part of her terrible decision?