"Marry me for three years. After that, you're free. Twenty million dollars for you, and your father's company stays alive. Simple transaction."
Sophie Chen didn't plan to sell her future to save her past. But when her family's business collapses and her father's health spirals, she's out of options. The offer comes from Daniel Stone, the ruthless CEO of Stone Industries, a man she's never met but whose reputation is legendary. Cold. Calculating. Untouchable.
The marriage certificate is signed. The contract is crystal clear. No love. No emotional involvement. No crossing the line.
But living in Daniel's penthouse isn't like the sterile arrangement they agreed to. He's not the villain she expected. The way he listens when she talks, the small kindnesses hidden beneath his icy exterior, the hours they spend talking after midnight when he thinks she's asleep, hidden by the glow of the city lights. Three years suddenly feels too long and not nearly enough.
Sophie falls slowly, then all at once. She hides it perfectly. Until the night she sees Daniel at an exclusive charity event with Victoria Mills, his childhood best friend, a billionaire's daughter who looks at him like she owns him. And the way Daniel doesn't pull away sends Sophie's world shattering.
When photos hit every gossip column in New York, Sophie realizes the cruel truth: the contract was always temporary. Daniel was always meant to be someone else's forever. And she was just the placeholder wife, the bridge between his past and his intended future.
But Sophie Chen didn't survive her family's collapse just to disappear quietly. She's going to remind Daniel Stone exactly what he's giving up. And she's going to make him regret ever teaching her what love feels like.