Ethan Cole gave everything to build Vantage Corp from nothing — his savings, his sleep, his heart. Maya Reyes was there for all of it, the one person who saw him before the money and the title, the one he trusted with everything he never told another soul. Then she voted to destroy the team he built with his own hands. No warning. No explanation. Just her voice, calm and unreadable, agreeing to tear apart everything they'd made together. Ethan tells himself he should have seen it coming. That loving someone that completely was always going to end in ruin. But grief doesn't ask permission before it becomes obsession, and he can't stop searching for the why behind her silence — even as it destroys what's left of him. What he finds is worse than betrayal. Maya wasn't working against him. She was standing alone between him and a man ruthless enough to burn the company to the ground — and she let Ethan hate her rather than risk losing him to the truth too soon. Forgiveness should be the end of the story. It isn't. Because just when Ethan lets himself trust her again, a name from Maya's past resurfaces — tangled up with the very man who almost destroyed them. And as he asks her the one question he's terrified to hear answered, her phone lights up with a message that isn't from him. Tell him, or I will. Some loves are tested by betrayal. This one is tested by a truth Ethan isn't sure he can su

Book Description: The Billionaire's Game THE BILLIONAIRE'S GAME --- When survival costs everything, love becomes the most dangerous game. --- Twenty-one-year-old Lysandra Thorne has spent her life perfecting the art of invisibility—working three jobs, studying on the side, and caring for her dying sister, Elara. But when an experimental treatment offers Elara's only chance of survival, Lysandra faces an impossible task: two million dollars she doesn't have and six weeks she can't afford to lose. The solution arrives in glittering chandeliers and champagne—an exclusive underground auction where desperate women sell their freedom to New York's elite. Six months of their lives for their sister's life. It's not a choice. It's mathematics. Then billionaire Cassian Vale bids one million dollars—not for just any woman, but for *her*. He knows her name before she even speaks it. He knows about Elara's illness before she even mentions it. He's known everything about her for five years—ever since the day she gave him half a sandwich in a library and disappeared without asking for anything in return. Now she's trapped in a glass penthouse overlooking Manhattan, owned by a man who claims he bought her time, not her soul. A man who schedules her sister's treatments, controls her clothes, watches her sleep—and promises never to touch her without her permission. But Cassian Vale is a liar. Not about touching. About everything. Because loving Lysandra isn't a free choice—it's an obsession he's secretly orchestrated. He didn't save her from despair. He created it. Every financial crisis, every locked door, every moment of helplessness—all staged to bring her to the auction stage, where he could finally claim what he'd been searching for for half a decade. The girl who showed him that kindness still existed. The woman for whom he would burn his empire to the ground. The only one who could destroy him simply by leaving. But in 183 days, the contract ends. And Lysandra faces the ultimate choice: Freedom without him—the dream she sold herself for. Or imprisonment with him—the prison that somehow feels like home. But Cassian's psychotic brother has escaped from the psychiatric hospital, and he knows that the quickest way to destroy Cassian is by extinguishing what he loves most. Now Lysandra isn't just Cassian's obsession—she's his weakness. And in a game where love is the ultimate weapon, staying might be more dangerous than leaving ever was. --- "I sold my freedom to save my sister. He bought me to save himself. We were both mistaken about what we were trading." -- A dark romance full of obsession and autonomy, where the line between rescuer and prisoner blurs, and choosing love could be the bravest—or most foolish—choice of all. Features: a morally ambiguous billionaire, forced intimacy, an enemy-to-lover relationship, Stockholm syndrome (addressed), auction/ownership, psychological manipulation, age difference (21/32), protective obsession, and a heroine who refuses to disappear—even after being bought. Contains: a morally ambiguous billionaire, forced intimacy, an enemy-to-lover relationship, Stockholm syndrome (addressed), auction/ownership, psychological manipulation, an age difference (21/32), protective obsession, and a heroine who refuses to disappear—even after being bought. ... --- Perfect for readers who enjoyed the following books: Transcend by Jewel E. Ann • Credence by Penelope Douglas • Corrupt by Penelope Douglas • The Game Makers series by Kresley Cole --- Tropes: He's obsessed, she doesn't notice (until she does) Bought at auction, but refuses to be obsessed Morally questionable billionaire with a dark past Forced closeness (gilded cage) Touch her and die (protective obsession) "That's not what I bought you for" (but wants everything else) Sister's illness as a catalyst (self-sacrificing love) From enemy to lover in record time (from prisoner to lover) Psychotic brother as the villain (an external threat intensifies the bond) Marriage of convenience as a trap She falls in love first, he falls more deeply in love (he fell in love years ago) From dishwasher to millionaire to "Me" Take rags with you --- "He bought me to protect me. I stayed to free us both."