At twenty-five, quietly scraping by after her late father’s debts resurface in the form of a ruthless corporate lawsuit, she’s thrust into a marriage of convenience with Alexander Vale, a steely billionaire in his late twenties who owns one of the world’s most powerful airline empires—and who needs a scandal-free wife to secure a critical international merger and silence rumors that could destroy his company overnight. Their union is strictly contractual: she will live under his protection in his secluded estate, her only responsibility to remain safe, unproblematic, and legally his, while he maintains a cold, distant façade that convinces the world—and almost her—that he barely tolerates her presence. In reality, Alexander keeps his distance because he falls too hard, too fast, afraid to break her, terrified of hurting her , and the fear that his dangerous world could swallow her whole; so he masks devotion as indifference, tenderness as control, and love as rules meant to keep her sheltered. She’s shy, soft-spoken, and intimidated by his dominance, unaware that every security measure, every sharp word meant to push her away, every sleepless night he spends watching over her in their shared bed is driven by a fierce, quiet devotion. As the slow burn unfolds, the lines between obligation and desire blur, revealing a man who would burn his empire to the ground to protect the woman he married for convenience—and a wife who slowly learns that the man she fears is the safest place she’s ever known.