PROLOGUE
"Sign it, Ember."
His voice slid across the table, low, calm, terrifyingly sure. Cole Williams. The man everyone in the city feared. The man I'd accidentally tied myself to in the worst way possible.
The golden pen glinted in his hand, cruel under the chandelier light, daring me to take it.
My stomach knotted as my gaze fell to the bold words stamped across the paper: Marriage Agreement.
This wasn't real. It couldn't be real.
I pushed my glasses up with shaking fingers, wishing they could shield me from the weight of his stare.
"This is insane," I breathed. My voice cracked like I didn't even belong in this glossy room of chandeliers and marble.
Cole leaned closer, his shadow swallowing me whole.
"You walked into my life and caused a scandal that could ruin everything I've built," he said, each word sharp and final. "This is how we fix it."
Three months. That's what he was offering. Three months as his wife. Then I'd walk away with a clean slate... and enough money to save the only person who mattered.
My little sister's tear-streaked face flashed in my mind. The eviction notice crumpled on our kitchen counter. The bills piling higher than I could pay.
I swallowed hard. My hand hovered over the pen.
Cole's lips curved, not quite a smile, more like a claim.
"Good girl," he murmured.
Then, softer, deadlier:
"Sign it."
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