Pride & Pretense {BOOK 1 OF THE SIN AND SILK SERIES}

ADRIAN
I wasn't supposed to fall in love.
Not again. Not like this.

But the moment I married Juliette St. Claire,
I knew I was doomed to fall-
And when I did,
I knew I'd never be able to stand back up.

She's polished. Poised.
Born to play pretend.
The perfect bride on paper.

But behind her eyes, I see something fragile.
A secret she's trying to bury.
And every night, when her screams cut through the silence-
I realize this arrangement was never clean.
Never controlled.

Then Zia starts calling her mama.
And Juliette starts looking at me like I'm something more than a contract.
And suddenly, this cold, calculated marriage
is burning its way into something real.

JULIETTE
I said yes to Adrian Laurent because I had no choice.
My family is bankrupt.
My father-soul-deep exhausted.
And now I belong to a man who could ruin me with a glance.

But I never expected her.

Zia-with her stubborn smile and questions that split me wide open.
She sees through the mask.
She holds my hand like it matters.

And somewhere along the way,
I stop pretending.
Because you can't lie to a child who believes in love.

Adrian warned me not to get attached.
But he didn't say what to do when his daughter starts to feel like mine.
Or when he starts to feel like home.

This was supposed to be a transaction.
But I'm falling for a man who's forgotten how to love-
and a little girl who's teaching me how to be loved again.