“I was the "charity case" widow at my billionaire husband's funeral, clutching a glass of champagne my sister Chloe promised would calm my nerves. Ten minutes later, the room began to spin and a drugged heat surged through my veins, turning me into a wounded deer among a room full of wolves. I stumbled into a dark suite to hide, only to find Adrien Larsen-the man even the devil feared-waiting in the shadows with a silver Zippo and a predatory gaze. To survive the night, I had to let him drench me in a cold shower and then crawl through a muddy pond, cutting my own skin just to frame my disappearance as an accident instead of a sex scandal. The next morning, Adrien revealed that my sister had forged my name on three million dollars of debt, leaving me with two choices: a prison cell or a contract that stated I now "belonged" to him. I couldn't understand why my own sister was so desperate to bury me, or why Adrien was suddenly willing to pay millions just to keep me trapped in his penthouse. "Don't thank me," He whispered against my ear as he shielded my red silk dress from a spiteful attack at the Met Gala. "This isn't charity, Aurora. You owe me." As I caught him tracing a secret photo of me from years ago, I realized he hadn't saved me from the trap-he was the one who had built it.”