Completed • First Draft - not edited. || "You gonna sit there all night?" Luka glances at me, smirking. I glare back. "I was enjoying the last few seconds of peace before having to spend an evening pretending to like you." "That's funny," he says, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Why?" I snap. "Because I was thinking the same thing." || The rules? Easy enough. 1. Pretend to be the perfect couple. 2. Keep it professional. 3. And whatever you do, don't. catch. feelings. Simple, right? Sofia Calloway never planned on going viral for throwing a drink in Luka Mikhaylov's face. But one video, one pissed-off hockey star, and one furious university later... she's suddenly stuck in a fake relationship with the guy she can't stand. He needs to clean up his image before the NHL draft. She needs the free tuition that comes with the deal. All they have to do is smile for the cameras, hold hands at the games, and act like they don't want to strangle each other. Then come the late-night arguments that last too long. The stolen glances that feel too dangerous. The moment where "pretend" starts looking way too real. Because when you break the rules, someone's bound to lose. And this time, it might be both of them.

In the city of Boston, where loyalty and silence often weigh more than justice, Officer Xavier Stevens stumbles into a case that changes everything. What begins as a routine call in the early hours of the morning turns into a discovery that unearths decades of corruption, cover-ups, and power plays buried deep within the city's political and law enforcement ranks. His accidental breakthrough earns him a fast-track promotion to detective-and a target on his back. As the media hails him as a hero, whispers grow louder in the shadows. The case he cracked open isn't over, it's the tip of something much larger, something the city's elite would kill to keep buried. Now every move Xavier makes is being watched, and every ally could be an enemy. Enter FBI Agent Genesis Carmichael, sharp, ambitious, and unimpressed. She's spent her entire career clawing her way up through bureaucracy, sexism, and closed doors, only to be paired with the man who "got lucky." Assigned to work with Xavier after his discovery sparks a federal-level investigation, Genesis has little patience for rookies who stumble into headlines. But when the two uncover that the original crime was part of a long-standing web of organized crime, political collusion, and internal betrayal, their uneasy partnership becomes the only thing standing between the truth and the forces determined to erase it. As Boston's underbelly begins to tremble, Xavier and Genesis find themselves navigating a city where justice has a price, loyalty is a gamble, and truth echoes louder than bullets.