Sadie Anubis

I’m Sadie Summer. Once I was an orphan, still treated like a servant by the family who adopted me—until fate threw me into a contract marriage with my cold, powerful billionaire boss. I stood by him when everyone else walked away. I saw the man beneath the armor, and for a moment... I believed he saw me too. But then came the accident. It turned us into strangers again. Still, I stayed—through the silence, the ache of being forgotten. Now he’s healed--almost whole. He still wants out. He wants a divorce. Worse, the people who wronged me are whispering lies, poisoning what little he remembers of us. Maybe we were never meant to be. But I’ve been alone before. I know how to survive. Only this time, I’m not walking away with my head down. Let him regret what he let go. Because I may have loved him once... But I won’t beg him twice.

By my third month on the job, I discovered that my coworkers had been calling me "the old crow" behind my back. The nickname came from none other than Jace's condescending secretary—because at 32, I was still clutching onto an eight-year relationship that hadn't ended in marriage. I confronted Jace. "Do you know your employees have been calling me the old crow?" He didn't even bother to look up. "That's just Sadie—she speaks her mind and means no harm. You're 32; why get so worked up over what a young girl says?" Then he gave me a faint, mocking smile. "Though honestly, it's a pretty fitting nickname." It felt like a cold hand had wrapped around my heart. So that was it—eight years of my youth, nothing more than a joke to him. I turned and walked away, handed in my resignation, and blocked every way he could reach me. But for the first time, the man who had always seemed so calm and untouchable finally panicked. "Elara," he pleaded, "please come back."

On the fifth year of our hidden marriage, I died on the operating table of a hospital belonging to Allen Jones. Before I died, I called him ninety-nine times, begging for help. The last time, he finally answered. His voice was heavy with impatience. "Enough already. First, it's pregnancy, now it's liver cancer. Can you stop making a scene? I'm exhausted from work. "Mia, when did you learn to lie? Do you know how disgusting you are right now? "I'm warning you—if you keep this up, I'll divorce you. Don't even think about coming back home until you admit you're wrong." But this time, I could never go back. Just before the call ended, I heard him comforting Sadie with a gentleness he had never shown me. "Don't be afraid. The surgery will be over soon, and you'll be fine. Once you're out, I'll take you to see your favorite movie and eat at your favorite restaurant. I promised you, and I'll make it all come true." After he hung up, I called him for the hundredth time. He didn't answer. Later, when Allen saw my body on the operating table, he broke down completely.

"Fall in love with me, and you lose ten million." That's not a threat. That's the deal. Cassian Wolfe doesn't make offers. He delivers ultimatums. Billionaire. Sports mogul. Champion horse racer. He built an empire on broken rules and even more broken people. He doesn't negotiate. He dominates. He doesn't forget. He collects. And Sadie Sinclair? She was always his favorite thing to break. He tortured her through high school. Mocked her through college. Humiliated her in ways that still burn under her skin. He slammed her confidence into the dirt and then stepped over her like she was nothing. And now he's back, richer and colder than ever, with the same sharp jaw, the same cruel smirk, and a proposition that makes her skin crawl. Her father's legacy is dying. Silvermane Stables is seconds from being swallowed by debt. And Cassian is the only one holding a check big enough to keep it alive. But his terms? Brutal. She has to work under him. Live with him. Stand by while he takes over everything she ever loved. And help him launch one final race under her father's name. Thirty days. One contract. One rule. If she falls in love with him, even for a second, the ten million bonus disappears. She wants to hate him. Should hate him. But Cassian doesn't just get under her skin. He rips it open and dares her to bleed. He taunts. He smirks. He walks in like he owns the world and smells the second her knees go weak. He's poison. Pain. Power in a suit. And thirty days might not be enough to stop her from crawling into his bed and begging him to destroy her all over again.