Lila Ahmed has 24 hours and 3,200 pounds to save her father from prison. A cold, mysterious businessman offers her a way out—sign a marriage contract. Three years. No divorce. No love. Just her father’s freedom.

The day she moves into Adrian Cole’s empty, picture-less apartment, she finds a photo of a woman with her face circled in red and one word written underneath: MISSING.

Adrian is polite, distant, and has one rule: Don’t go into my office.

The more Lila tries to be the invisible wife, the more she notices the gaps—midnight phone calls, a name he never says aloud, and the way his eyes linger on her as if she’s a ghost.

She came to save her father.
Now she’s wondering if she married the man who lost the woman she looks like.

I knew it was bad news before I even answered.


"Miss Lila? This is Officer Mansour from Central Precinct. Your father… he tried to hurt himself tonight."


I was sitting on the floor of our tiny kitchen, wearing an old hoodie, the light flickering above me. The fridge was almost empty—just a bottle of water and some leftover rice.


I gripped the phone tighter. "Is he… is he okay?"


"He's alive. But he won't make it through the week in here without medical care. The bail is 400,000 pounds."


I closed my eyes and whispered, "Is there any other way?"


There was a pause. Then the officer said something I'll never forget:


"There's a man. He's willing to pay the bail. But he wants something in return."


By morning, I was sitting across from a lawyer who slid a contract across the table and said three words:


Chapter 0.5 – The Call