Introduction

Ethan Hayes thought his life was a gilded cage, trapped between his tyrannical father and his ruthless half-brother, Liam. His last hope for freedom was an arranged marriage to a comatose heiress in Boston, a deal he accepted in exchange for a fortune and the quiet support of his stoic bodyguard, Sarah Bell.

But that fragile sense of acceptance shattered when he overheard Sarah's late-night call, revealing her true identity as Seraphina Vance, a billionaire heiress, and her chilling confession: she was infatuated with Liam, seeing Ethan as nothing more than a "means to an end."

The woman he' d secretly loved had been deceiving him, her every act of professional care a calculated move to get closer to Liam. Her obsession led her to public acts of devotion towards his tormentor brother, culminating in orchestrating a brutal dog attack on Ethan and later a violent beating by thugs, all while prioritizing Liam and dismissing Ethan's suffering.

How could the quiet, seemingly caring Sarah be this ruthless heiress, so utterly blind to Liam' s cruelty? The betrayal gnawed at Ethan, leaving him drowning in a bitter cocktail of humiliation, anger, and profound confusion. Was his entire life just a stage for their twisted games?

Then, Liam's drunken boasts exposed the horrific truth: his mother's death and Ethan's ruined scholarship were his brother's calculated acts. With nothing left to lose and everything to escape, Ethan decided his arranged marriage was no longer just a transaction, but his only path to true freedom from a family intent on destroying him, even if it meant abandoning everything he knew.