chaptersbydil
"Smile for the cameras, Ananya. The world doesn't need to know you're just a replacement."
At twenty-eight, Kabir Raichand is a lethal paradox. By day, he is the ruthless CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporate empire.
By night, he is India's youngest, most formidable politician-a man whose nod can shift power lines and whose scowl commands prime-time news. He has everything he ever wanted, except the woman he loved.
When his family blocks his marriage to his first love, Meera, and marries her off to his older brother instead, Kabir's world shatters.
To protect his political image and secure a wholesome "family man" reputation for the upcoming elections, he is forced to marry someone else.
Meera's quiet, invisible cousin.
Ananya Sharma has carried a fierce, silent crush on Kabir since she was a little girl. But the day Kabir fell for Meera, Ananya buried her feelings and locked the key away.
She never asked to be the substitute bride.
She never asked to be trapped in a political transaction.
Yet, she finds herself walking down the aisle, draped in heavy silks, marrying the man who looks at her with nothing but burning resentment.
Now, they live under the same roof.
A cold, high-security mansion where Kabir treats her like a ghost by night, but has to play the doting, possessive husband under the blinding flashlights of the media by day.
To make matters worse, Meera is always there-living across the hallway as his sister-in-law, a constant reminder of the life he lost.
Kabir promises to make Ananya pay for a marriage she didn't choose. But as political rivals close in, a charming new client enters Ananya's life, and her silent grace begins to break Kabir's icy walls.
The ruthless politician is about to learn that the wife he hates is the only woman he can't afford to lose.
A high-stakes, angsty, Indian arranged-marriage romance filled with corporate power plays, political secrets, burning jealousy, and a very slow burn.