Ivy Kwan has clawed her way out of an abusive past, but poverty still binds her. When her sister's medical debt spirals beyond reach, she sits across from Julian Ashford, a ruthless billionaire with a crumbling empire and a marriage clause in his father's will. He needs a wife. She needs a financial lifeline. Eighteen months, substantial settlement, then divorce. No entanglement. No expectations.
But Julian was not chosen randomly. Ivy bears an uncanny resemblance to his murdered sister Elena—and he intends to use her as bait to draw out the man who killed her.
What begins as a transaction becomes complicated by genuine connection. What feels like justice becomes a descent into institutional corruption that spans generations, implicates government officials, and reveals that the systems designed to protect us are compromised by the very people entrusted to maintain them. Ivy and Julian must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of truth—and whether love can survive the weight of choosing institutional accountability over personal connection.
A haunting psychological thriller in the tradition of Stieg Larsson, BROKEN ME explores generational trauma, the insufficiency of love, and the devastating cost of confronting corruption that has been systematically protected for decades.