Blood splattered across Ezekiel's face, the crimson staining his pale skin as his diamond-like eyes locked onto Mariet's. Despite the pain and the blood seeping from his wounds, he reached out to cup her face, his touch gentle yet firm. Through the thick, oppressive air of the night, his voice cut through like a haunting melody. "You have always been mine," he whispered, his words laced with an eerie possessiveness.
Mariet, unfazed by the blood and the danger, met his gaze with a twisted smile. "Mine?" she echoed, her voice dripping with mockery. "Oh, Ezekiel, you were never mine to keep, but I have always owned you."
The tension between them was palpable, as each held a blade to the other's neck, the sharp metal pressing against tender flesh. Their breaths mingled, and for a moment, it was unclear whether they would succumb to their deadly dance or to the twisted bond that had always tied them together.
Henley agrees to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for a fee, falling in love as she wonders - how is he involved in her brother's false conviction?
******
Henley Linden's brother is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and she'll take any job to raise the money needed to free him. Soon, she's agreed to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for ten thousand dollars, so his mother will ease up the pressure on him to find a wife. But once Henley is enmeshed in Bennett's world, he falls for her, and she starts to have feelings for him as well. Despite her romance with Bennett, as she grows closer to the Calloways, Henley realizes they are somehow involved in her brother's conviction. Journeying deeper into a world of wealth and conspiracies, Henley is forced to rely on Bennett, though doing so could cost her everything.
[[word count: 200,000-250,000 words]]