"We were meant to be strangers. Just one evening. No names. No repercussions.
Elara Sinclair lost her job at her family's hotel business, witnessed her dying grandmother's fortune being stolen by the people she trusted most, and caught her fiancé in bed with her stepsister in one cruel evening. She runs to the airport in a desperate attempt to get away, but a storm cancels her flight.
She meets him there.

The stranger gives her one ideal night—no identities, no past, just two people pretending the world doesn't exist—because he is tall, incredibly attractive, and obviously fleeing his own issues. They make a vow to never see each other again after tonight, converse until morning, and divulge secrets they've never told anyone.

However, fate has a perverse sense of humor.
Three weeks later, Elara learns two things: she is expecting a child, and the man she met at the airport is Damien Cross, the merciless billionaire CEO who recently bought her family's business and is now her boss. Even worse, he is her ex-fiance's family's sworn enemy and is unaware that the enigmatic woman he can't stop thinking about is in front of him.

When Damien learns the truth, he presents her with an irresistible offer: a fictitious engagement with strict guidelines—no ties, no feelings, and most definitely no falling in love—in order to eliminate both of their adversaries.
However, their shared evening produced more than simply a child. It forged a bond that neither of them can deny, and as their revenge scheme develops into something genuine, Elara must choose whether to believe the guy who began as a lovely lie or whether their forbidden love will turn into another agonizing farewell.

One flight was canceled. One baby in secret. One lover who is an adversary. And a pledge that was supposed to be broken.

Well, not breaking exactly. More like using every connection, favor, and barely-legal loophole I have to get my pregnant wife out of jail before morning.


"This is insane," Marcus hisses as we walk through the precinct's back entrance. "If they catch us—"


"They won't catch us. You hacked the security cameras, right?"


"Then we're fine." I'm not fine. I'm the opposite of fine. Elara has been in custody for six hours, and every minute feels like a knife in my chest. "Where is she?"


"Holding cell, basement level. But Damien, even if we get her out, she'll be a fugitive. They'll hunt her down."


"Not if we have evidence proving the assault video is fake." I show him my phone. "Our tech team found the editing markers. They also traced the IP address of whoever uploaded it—want to guess whose computer it came from?"


Chapter 7 - Coffee and Confessions