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The familiar scent of Texas dust welcomed me home after weeks on a sold-out tour, but my mother's strained smile hinted at trouble.
Over chicken-fried steak, she dropped a bombshell: an arranged marriage. Not in some period drama, but right here in the 21st century, between me, Ava Monroe, a musician building her own destiny, and Liam Sterling, the grandson of a man my father saved.
It was a life-debt, a "gentleman's agreement" from before I was born, now pushed forward by a dying patriarch.
I was blindsided, reeling from the archaic notion. This wasn't some fantasy; it was a contract, turning my life into a political maneuver for family honor.
The agreement had a cruel twist: it only stood if I wasn't "seriously involved" with anyone.
My single status, a consequence of artistic devotion, suddenly trapped me.
They rushed the wedding, leaving me married to a handsome stranger who was meticulous, practical, and almost unsettlingly stoic.
He treated me with perfect respect, yet his emotional distance left me feeling like a beautiful, but hollow, exhibit in his immaculate penthouse.
Then came Victoria.
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