Chapter 1

• “I don’t want your name, and I sure as hell don’t want your ring.”
• Sienna’s voice hit the room like a punch to the gut. Sharp. Loud. No fear behind it.
• The conference room fell dead quiet. Everyone froze.
• “You don’t have to want it,” Adrian said, leaning back like he wasn’t even fazed. “You just have to wear it.”
• Sienna’s hands were fists at her sides. Her arms are tight. Her jaw clenched. She didn’t come here to play games. She came for a job. That’s what the offer said. Creative Director. Not wife.
• “This wasn’t in the damn deal,” she snapped, stepping forward. “You offered me a position—not a marriage.”
• Adrian didn’t move. He just folded his hands and looked at her. “And now I’m offering both. I changed the deal.”
• “Why?” Her voice cracked—not from weakness. From disbelief.
• He stood, slow and controlled. “Because I can.”
• The room emptied. Lawyers, assistants, PR people—they all vanished without a word. Leaving her standing there, alone, facing a man who just turned her entire life upside down with one sentence.
• Her hands were shaking. Not from fear. From rage.
• “You think people are things you can own,” she said, barely holding her voice steady. “You think money gives you that right.”
• “I don’t buy people,” Adrian said. “I bind them.”
• His eyes met hers, cold and calm. “And you already signed.”
• She looked down at the folder still in her hand. Her signature was right there, bold on the last page. Page six. Her name stared up at her like a joke. She had signed, thinking she was finally catching a break. After months of hell—evictions, job rejections, watching her mother suffer with no help—this job had felt like a miracle.
• Now it felt like a trap.
• “You tricked me.”
• “I gave you an opportunity,” Adrian said without blinking. “You want your mom’s surgery paid for? You want a career, a future, a name that means something? Then you play by my rules.”
• “You could’ve hired me without forcing this marriage.”
• “I could have,” he said simply. “But I need a wife. You need saving. We both get something.”
• She felt like her throat was closing. Like her lungs couldn’t pull in enough air.
• “So I’m just a pawn in your game with your father, huh?”
• His jaw tightened. Just for a second.
• “My father doesn’t control me.”
• “Then who does?”
• He didn’t answer. He just stared at her. Calm. Distant. He’d looked at her résumé. He’d seen her work. But that’s not why he chose her. She was tough. Sharp. She had fight in her. She didn’t kiss up to anyone. He didn’t want a woman who’d fall in line.
• He wanted one who would fight him.
• “I’ll make you a deal,” she said through her teeth. “Six months. I play the part. Smile for the cameras. Wear the ring. But after that, we end this. You file the annulment, and I walk away.”
• Adrian stepped closer. His voice was low. Steady.
• “I don’t do temporary. And I don’t change the rules for people who already signed on.”
• “You’re insane.”
• “And you’re stuck,” he said, pulling a small box from his pocket. “Put it on. We’re due at my mother’s birthday party in forty-five minutes.”
• She stared at the box. He popped it open. The ring was huge. Heavy. Ice-cold looking.
• “I’m not putting that on.”
• He reached for her hand.
• She jerked away. “Don’t touch me.”
• His face barely moved. Just the smallest twitch of his mouth. Not quite a smile—more like a warning.
• “There’s a ballroom full of cameras waiting to see my wife. You can walk in beside me… or behind me. Your choice.”
• She didn’t answer. But her silence said enough.
• The limo ride was dead quiet. Expensive leather seats. Black windows. She sat still, arms crossed.
• “This isn’t a marriage,” she said under her breath.
• “No,” Adrian said, checking his watch. “It’s a transaction. You signed. Now you follow my terms.”
• “And what do I get, huh?” Her voice was bitter. “Besides a fake title and a pile of lies?”
• “You get protection,” he said, still not looking at her. “From the people trying to crush you. From the bills stacking up. From the world that’s been kicking you while you’re down.”
• She turned to him, furious. “Don’t act like you know anything about me.”
• “I know you were evicted twice last year,” he said, finally looking at her. “I know your mom’s health is going downhill fast. I know you’ve applied to over seventy jobs. And I know you turned down the two that would’ve taken you out of state. Because you won’t leave her.”
• Her eyes burned.
• “You had me investigated.”
• “I had you researched,” he said coolly. “It’s not personal. It’s business.”
• “No, it’s manipulation.”
• The limo stopped. The driver opened the door.
• Adrian got out first. Then he turned back and looked at her like nothing had just happened. Like this was just another workday.
• “Fix your face, Mrs. Blackwell. It’s showtime.”
• The ballroom was blinding. Camera flashes. Laughter. Glitter. People dressed in diamonds and secrets. Every head turned the second they walked in.
• Sienna kept her face still. She felt like glass. Brittle. Ready to crack.
• Adrian slipped his arm around her waist like they’d done this a hundred times. Like he owned her already.
• She leaned in, faking a smile for the cameras.
• “You don’t scare me,” she said under her breath.
• His lips brushed her ear.
• “You will.”
• They barely made it halfway across the room before a woman with long nails and lips red like blood stepped in front of them.
• “Darling,” she said to Adrian, clinging to him. “And who’s this?”
• “My wife,” Adrian said without hesitation.
• The woman blinked. Then looked at Sienna. Her smile was all teeth. Her eyes were poison.
• “Lovely,” she said. “And sudden.”
• Sienna smiled. But it didn’t reach her eyes. “We like surprises.”
• Adrian’s hand tightened slightly on her hip.
• The woman sipped her champagne. “Let’s hope you can keep up.”
• Sienna smiled harder. “Let’s hope you can stay out of our way.”
• The night went on like a performance. They danced. They posed. They laughed at things that weren’t funny. It was all fake.
• But the moment they stepped out into the hallway, Sienna dropped the mask.
• She turned to Adrian. Her voice was low. “I don’t belong here.”
• “You do now,” he said flatly.
• “I’ll never love you.”
• His eyes turned dark.
• “Good,” he said. “Love makes people weak.”
• She looked at him, confused. Like she’d just seen something crack in his armor.
• “What happened to you?”
• He looked straight at her. “You happened. And I’m not going to lose again.”
• Before she could respond, his phone beeped. He pulled it out, saw the name, and his whole face changed.
• His jaw tightened.
• “Stay here,” he said, walking off without another word.
• Sienna’s gut twisted. Something was off. Way off.
• She followed.
• The door he slipped into was left slightly open. She crept up, quiet, and peered through the crack.
• Adrian stood inside, facing a man in a dark suit.
• “She doesn’t know,” the man said.
• “She won’t,” Adrian replied.
• Sienna froze.
• “She can’t find out what really happened to her father.”