She knew it wasn't love-not the kind that was safe, certain, or promised. But it felt like love in the quiet moments when he held her close, whispered things he didn't mean, and made her believe-just for a second-that she was enough.
She fell first, fell hard, and fell alone.
He was, her safe place, her late-night call, her escape when the world was too heavy. But when she needed him, he was distant, cold, reminding her that she was the one who chose to stay, to hope, to hurt.
Loving him was a war she fought alone-a cycle of passion and pain, of stolen moments that meant everything to her and nothing to him. She tried to walk away, tried to let go, but every time she did, he found a way to pull her back, whispering apologies that felt like love but were really just chains in disguise.
And the worst part? She knew he would never choose her. But she still chose him every time.
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]]