From the author of National Parks and other bestselling tales of heartbreak comes a visceral departure into a new saga of blood, tradition, and ruin.
Years ago, we exchanged our freedom for a two-word lie.
STELLAN
She is the little demon from all my nightmares. She has been since she crashed my eighth-grade birthday party and took up permanent residence under my skin. But I’ve never let anything stand in the way of my success, not even a marriage my parents plucked for me like a sacrificial lamb.
By day, we are business rivals clashing in glass offices where the air is as thin as our patience. By night, we are strangers, sharing a crowded bed. Bound by the weight of a ring I shoved onto Kaida’s finger before she could find the breath to deny me.
It was seamless, the lies we told the world. Right up until the night she ruined those vows.
I let her walk away, and she never looked back.
KAIDA
He was the bad boy with polished edges, my mother’s best friend’s son, and my most beautiful regret.
Our marriage was born of quiet desperation, a pact made to satisfy meddling parents, leaving us with nothing but the stagnant taste of dead fish and cold rice. At thirty-something, the liberation we were promised feels less like victory and more like a tragedy.
Now, I am counting the seconds until the clock strikes midnight. As I await the divorce papers, a final gift from our matrimony. But my husband, once a loveless companion, is the only one who begs to know the rhythm of my breath. Stellan finds me one last time, with the look of a man who never intended to let me go.
Our vows have a deadline, but now he’s demanding forever. And I don’t know if I have enough to give him.
TROPES
💍 Marriage of (In)convenience
📉 Work Rivals
🥂 Fake Marriage
⏳ One Last Deadline
🎄 Second Chance Holiday Romance
🖤 He’s begging, she’s leaving.
Genre: Romance
Years ago, we exchanged our freedom for a two-word lie.
STELLAN
She is the little demon from all my nightmares. She has been since she crashed my eighth-grade birthday party and took up permanent residence under my skin. But I’ve never let anything stand in the way of my success, not even a marriage my parents plucked for me like a sacrificial lamb.
By day, we are business rivals clashing in glass offices where the air is as thin as our patience. By night, we are strangers, sharing a crowded bed. Bound by the weight of a ring I shoved onto Kaida’s finger before she could find the breath to deny me.
It was seamless, the lies we told the world. Right up until the night she ruined those vows.
I let her walk away, and she never looked back.
KAIDA
He was the bad boy with polished edges, my mother’s best friend’s son, and my most beautiful regret.
Our marriage was born of quiet desperation, a pact made to satisfy meddling parents, leaving us with nothing but the stagnant taste of dead fish and cold rice. At thirty-something, the liberation we were promised feels less like victory and more like a tragedy.
Now, I am counting the seconds until the clock strikes midnight. As I await the divorce papers, a final gift from our matrimony. But my husband, once a loveless companion, is the only one who begs to know the rhythm of my breath. Stellan finds me one last time, with the look of a man who never intended to let me go.
Our vows have a deadline, but now he’s demanding forever. And I don’t know if I have enough to give him.
TROPES
💍 Marriage of (In)convenience
📉 Work Rivals
🥂 Fake Marriage
⏳ One Last Deadline
🎄 Second Chance Holiday Romance
🖤 He’s begging, she’s leaving.
Genre: Romance