In the world of old money, private galas, and billion-dollar legacies, futures were decided long before love ever had a chance. Sage Alcott and Dean Blythe grew up in the same elite circle, attending Heartwood Private school alongside the children of CEOs, politicians, and investors who had all been promised to one another since childhood. When Sage and Dean were ten years old, their parents made an agreement: one day, they would marry and merge the Alcott and Blythe empires into something even more powerful. Knowing their lives had already been planned made everything between them cold and distant growing up. They avoided each other whenever possible, refusing to give their parents the perfect love story they wanted. At school events, country clubs, and lavish vacations, they acted more like strangers than two people destined to spend forever together. Dean hated how controlled his future felt, while Sage refused to become another obedient daughter trapped in a life built for appearances. But during senior year, their parents begin pushing harder than ever for them to attend charity galas together, pose for magazine interviews, and make public appearances as the future golden couple of their social world. Forced into each other’s lives constantly, the walls they built over the years slowly begin to crack. Beneath Dean’s quiet resentment is someone who understands Sage better than anyone else ever has, and beneath Sage’s sharp defenses is a girl terrified that maybe destiny was never the problem — maybe it was how badly she wanted it to be her choice. What starts as obligation slowly turns into stolen late-night drives, whispered conversations after parties, and a love neither of them expected to find in the person chosen for them long ago.