BLURB "Marry me instead." Those three words shattered the silence after my fiancé abandoned me at the altar. I thought the powerful billionaire standing before me had come to mock my humiliation like the rest of his family. Instead, Adrian Ashford, my ex-fiancé's ruthless father and the man every business empire feared, offered me his hand in marriage in front of the cameras that had just captured the worst day of my life. The deal was simple. I would become his wife, restore my ruined reputation, and help him crush the enemies circling his empire. In return, he would protect me from the scandal threatening to destroy everything I had left. But fake marriages don't stay fake when stolen kisses become impossible to forget, family secrets begin to surface, and the man I was never supposed to love becomes the only place that feels like home. Now my ex wants me back, his manipulative mother wants me gone, and someone inside the Ashford family is willing to kill to stop the truth from coming out. I married my ex's father to survive, but what happens when the man I vowed never to love becomes the only one I can't bear to lose?