ond ring she needed a forklift to wear. Yet here she was, sitting across from Damien Sinclair in a minimalist glass office overlook

't smil

yes. Not even when she signed the contract that wou

a romance. It was a business arrangement-one

table, the edges of the paper crisp, official. S

d quietly, watching her. "Until

er than this," Aria repli

Not quite a smile,

low exhale. "There. Aria Mon

n said. "Privately, you

laced a small velvet box on t

to fool the world, we may

nestled against black velvet, was a r

a lot of

nd. Harry Winston," he said, like he

d thank a small vill

musement. "It's yours for th

ted. It glittered like it belonged on someone else's hand-someone w

om Brooklyn who paint

ed tonight. Quietly. My legal team has secured

ned. "That's just a

on a de

. Midn

eeply to him-and not just financially. She could see it in his posture, his unflinching fo

"You'll need to move in with me t

ill," she said, m

e, he paused and loo

rsonal, Aria.

e. "And yet it

rrowed someone else's strength. She stared at the engagement ring on he

mirror, she re

e out

her chest was from entering a sham marriag

ch husband can save you? He do

d it, hear

was probably very different from Damien's, but she chose a pale cream dr

, and Aria slid in, hugging her small clutch to her chest. As the city passed in a blur, she tho

red, "what would

e cover of Architectural Digest. Damien was waiting at the entran

. appropria

, th

cient, barely looking up as he read through the vows. Aria s

em husband and wife, a strang

her. "Tradition

w. "You don't strike

e needs to look real, espe

against her cheek. It was formal. Cont

parlor, surrounded by g

ied," she s

he replied, witho

, announcing dinner.

have work

? We marry and then go to se

the house. Just... stay out of th

ously? That's the most om

. "Then take it h

lone, married to a man who treated he

something: she wasn't just stepping into Damien Sinclair's world-she was entering his cag

t the only on

his control, had walls buil

t the ring again,

spered to herself. "I ca

rned her: surviving wasn't g

for him