Ivy Jones never planned to marry a stranger—especially not a man like Lucien Blackwood.
In New York City, Lucien is untouchable. A ruthless billionaire with a reputation for control and cold precision, he believes love is a weakness and marriage is nothing more than strategy. When his powerful family demands a wife, Lucien finds the perfect solution.
A contract.
Ivy is desperate. Her brother is imprisoned, legal fees are piling up, and time is running out. Lucien’s offer is impossible to refuse: one year as his wife in exchange for the money she needs. No emotions. No intimacy. No expectations.
Simple. Controlled. Safe.
Or so Lucien believes.
Behind the glamour of Manhattan galas and flashing cameras, Ivy quickly learns the truth of her new life. In public, she must play the perfect billionaire’s wife—smiling, silent, flawless. In private, she is ignored, managed, and constantly reminded that she is replaceable.
But Ivy refuses to disappear.
Her quiet strength and defiance begin to crack Lucien’s carefully constructed walls, awakening emotions he never intended to feel. Desire turns dangerous. Control begins to slip. And just when Lucien starts to want Ivy—not as a wife, but as a woman—the past he buried resurfaces, threatening to destroy everything.
Because Ivy was never meant to be more than a solution.
And some contracts are signed with ink…
while others are written in pain.
