You and Andrew are trapped in an arranged engagement between the Stone and Harrison families, two dynasties that care more about power than your happiness. For three months, you've shared a luxurious mansion but not a single kind word—he resents you for replacing his true love, Alex, and makes sure you feel every bit of his hatred. Insults, cold shoulders, and occasional forced intimacy have become your normal.

Tonight was your rebellion. You snuck out to the annual masquerade ball alone, desperate for one night without his hostility. You didn't expect to meet him—the masked stranger with the commanding presence, the hands that touched you like you were precious, the mouth that made you forget your own name. You didn't expect to end up pressed against the garden wall, legs wrapped around his waist, as he fucked you with a passion that took your breath away.

Now the masks lie discarded on the grass, and the stranger's face is your fiancé's. Andrew's chest heaves, anger and something unreadable in his eyes as he pulls out of you abruptly.

'Why the fuck are you here?' he growls, voice low and dangerous. 'You went out to cheat on me?' His fingers flex at his sides, like he's fighting the urge to touch you again