I was never supposed to marry Ethan Van Doren.I was supposed to marry his brother — a cold business arrangement to save my family's failing hotel from ruin. But Lucas never showed up to our wedding. His older brother did instead, and before I understood what was happening, I was Mrs. Van Doren: bound by contract to a man with ice in his eyes and a reputation for ruthlessness that precedes him into every room.Separate bedrooms. No questions. Affection only when the cameras are watching.Those are his rules — until they start breaking on their own.Until I catch him watching me like he's trying to solve a problem he won't name. Until his father looks at me like I'm a ghost. Until the search for the brother who vanished uncovers something none of us expected — and the empire I married into turns out to be built on secrets that could destroy us both.Ethan Van Doren doesn't believe in love. He was raised to believe it's a weakness that gets people killed.I'm starting to think he's wrong.And I'm terrified of how much I want to be the one who proves it.

Sienna Calloway has spent years building a life controlled by rules: psychology studies, quiet routines, emotional distance. Working evening shifts at St. Claire’s Gym is supposed to be temporary — just another way to pay tuition and survive grad school without needing anyone.Then she meets Zane Cross.Professional MMA fighter. Co-owner of the gym. Walking chaos wrapped in bruised knuckles, tattoos, and a smile dangerous enough to make bad decisions feel reasonable.Zane is used to attention. Used to women falling for the performance. But Sienna looks at him like she sees straight through it — through the charm, the arrogance, the violence he hides behind so easily. And the more she refuses to be impressed by him, the more impossible she becomes to ignore.What begins as sharp arguments and reluctant attraction slowly spirals into something darker: obsession disguised as desire, jealousy disguised as concern, intimacy that feels more like losing control than falling in love.Because some people don’t heal each other.Some people ruin each other beautifully.And once Zane and Sienna cross the line between hate and hunger, there is no clean way back.