In Sterling City, Damon Cole is untouchable. As the cold, ruthless CEO of Cole Dynamics, he has one rule, people are either an asset or a liability. But when his own father issues an ultimatum to marry within thirty days or lose fifty-one percent of his multi-billion-dollar empire to his scheming stepbrother Adrian, Damon faces a trap he cannot fight his way out of. He needs a wife from outside his world. Someone with no connections to the people trying to destroy him. Jessica Mills barely scraped into Cole luxe a branch of Cole dynamics. A girl from the wrong side of the city who got one lucky break and clung to it with both hands. But when a ruthless loan shark threatens seize everything her parents own, one lucky break is not enough. She needs fifty thousand dollars by next week and she is completely out of options. The deal Damon offers is simple. Twelve months. A secret marriage. In public, a convincing couple to secure his board votes. In private, strict rules and separate lives. He clears her family’s life-or-death debt. She protects his throne. Pure business. But the moment Jessica steps inside his world, her mind starts pulling at threads that were never meant to be found. Someone inside Cole Dynamics is hiding a murder. And the charming stepbrother everyone trusts is the most dangerous person in the room. Behind the ice and the arrogance is a man carrying a wound she recognizes because twenty-two years ago, she sat beside a heartbroken little boy in the dark. He never forgot her face. He just never knew her name. The contract was supposed to be a business merger. But when the fake vows turn dangerous, the only thing standing between them and a lethal betrayal is a marriage neither of them planned to keep.