He watches. He waits. He chooses. Lorenzo De Rossi-Il Falco. A man who controls everything-his empire, his enemies... and the city that fears his name. Until her. Mia was never meant to be part of his world. Brilliant. Guarded. Far too observant for her own good-seeing the cracks in a man no one dares question. What begins as a moment... becomes something far more dangerous. An obsession. And in Lorenzo's world, obsession isn't a weakness. It's a liability. Pulled into a life built on power, loyalty, and blood, Mia is forced to navigate a man who doesn't ask-he decides. A man who watches her like claiming her is inevitable. But Mia isn't something to be owned. And Lorenzo isn't a man who lets go. When secrets unravel and war threatens everything he's built, one truth becomes clear: Loving her might cost him his empire. But losing her? Isn't an option.

A stubborn bookstore owner. A frozen Swedish billionaire. And three inches that could ruin everything. Farrah Denise Rodgers has enough problems. Her dating app is a disaster, her cousins won't stop judging her choices, and running her family's beloved Chicago bookstore and tea shop, Rodgers Roots & Pages, already takes every ounce of patience she has. Then Aldrich Cunningham walks into her life. Cold, ruthless, and almost twice her age, Aldrich is a Swedish billionaire used to buying whatever stands in his way. But when his luxury redevelopment project hits a legal snag, all he needs is one tiny thing from Farrah: three inches of her family's property line. Farrah says no. To Aldrich, it's a minor easement. To Farrah, it's the first piece of a legacy her family fought too hard to keep. What starts as a business standoff quickly turns into something messier, warmer, and far more dangerous than either of them expected. Between awkward dating app disasters, jealous ex-wives, protective siblings, a past Aldrich can't keep buried, and a Rodgers family determined to bring South Side chaos all the way to Sweden, falling in love might be the least complicated part. Farrah doesn't need saving. Aldrich doesn't know how to be soft. But somehow, over tea, contracts, family dinners, and one very inconvenient truth, the woman he couldn't buy becomes the one thing he's terrified to lose. A contemporary interracial age-gap rom-com about legacy, laughter, healing, and the kind of love that teaches a cold man how to come into the light.