He doesn’t believe in love. Or second chances. Or fate.
Then he wakes up married to a stranger.
Kidnapped and abandoned by his own mother, billionaire lawyer Ares Huxley built his life on ironclad rules. A wife was never part of the plan—until a promotion demands one.
When he wakes up married to the beautiful and feisty Lareina, instinctively an annulment becomes the plan. Except his new bride needs the marriage just as much to claim her inheritance.
So, they strike a deal: live together in the marital home, keep emotions out of it, and walk away in six months.
But Ares’s didn’t anticipate how day by day Lareina will break his defenses. The more he fights the fire
between them, the more his restraint frays—until detachment feels like another kind of surrender.
The danger isn’t wanting her. It’s realizing he can’t do without her.
But will the deal be just as valuable when the wrong woman becomes your wife…and the love of your life?
When the lines between obligation and desire blur, Ares must decide what terrifies him more: losing control—or losing the woman who was never supposed to be his wife.
A sizzling slow-burn descent into obsession featuring a grumpy billionaire from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nadia Lee.
For fans of Sylvia Day, Ana Huang, and Lauren Blakely!
Imprint: India Penguin
Published: Feb/2026
ISBN: 9780143482246
Length : 391 Pages
MRP : ₹499.00
Bestselling author Devdutt Pattanaik has penned over 25 books and over 500 articles on the relevance of mythology in modern times. He worked in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries for 15 years before devoting all his time to his passion for decoding beliefs of all cultures, modern and ancient, located beneath the veneer of rationality. […]