The Gilded Forest

I saved a crying child from a kidnapper in the park. It was the right thing to do. It was also the worst mistake of my life. Because the boy, Sam, is the son of Cassian Varga, the most powerful and reclusive crime lord in the city. And the kidnapper was a message from his rivals. By intervening, I didn’t just witness a crime; I became a target. Now, Cassian offers me a deal for my survival: become his fake fiancée. His traditional grandmother is demanding he settle down, and I’m the convenient solution—a stranger already under his protection. In return for playing the part of the woman who tamed the untamable, I get his name as my shield. But life in his opulent penthouse is a performance without an end. Every touch for the public eye feels dangerously real, and every glance in private hints at secrets behind his cold, calculating exterior. I’m living a lie to stay alive, but the most dangerous lie might be the one I’m telling myself: that this is just an act. To survive his world, I have to pretend to love a man who trusts no one. But in a fortress built on lies, the heart is the most vulnerable gate of all.