Marrying him was supposed to save me. No one warned me I’d become the one thing a ruthless man refuses to lose.

I had two choices: watch my family pay for a debt they could never repay—or become the wife of the most feared man in the city.

The marriage is strictly business.

He gets the wife he needs to secure his empire. I get his protection. And when our agreement ends, we walk away without looking back.

At least, that was the plan.

My new husband is cold, commanding, and dangerously possessive. He barely touches me, yet no other man is allowed close. He claims he doesn’t care where I go, then sends guards to follow me. And when someone threatens me, I finally understand why people whisper his name instead of saying it aloud.

The man I married doesn’t forgive.

He destroys.

But the most dangerous part isn’t his enemies, his secrets, or the blood staining his hands.

It’s the way he looks at me when no one else is watching.

Our marriage may have started with a contract, but somewhere between his jealousy, my defiance, and the desire neither of us can control, the rules begin to disappear.

I promised myself I would never love a man like him.

He promised to make sure I never had the chance to leave.