Talia I see the world in patterns—not to calculate my distance, but to understand the people no one else sees. I don't build walls. I build bridges. Even when it costs me. So when the Society offers me a contract, one year as the wife of legacy billionaire Stellan Rothwell, I say yes. His empire is fracturing from within. Someone close to him is leaking secrets, and I’m here to find the fault line before everything collapses. I wasn’t hired to love him. I was hired to anchor him, protect him, and leave when the work is done. But the longer I stay, the harder it is to pretend that saving him doesn’t feel a little like saving myself. Stellan I didn’t ask for a wife. I asked for containment. The Society promised me someone strategic—polished, detached. A safeguard, nothing more. So, they sent Talia Cerny—perceptive, unshakable, disarming in ways I didn’t see coming. She studies without judgment. Moves through my world like she was always meant to find the cracks and hold them together. I built my life around control. Around silence. But now, all I want is to hear her voice. She came to protect the illusion of my stability. Instead, she’s becoming the only real thing I have left.
Author
Sara McClaflin writes dark romance with feelings, flaws, and just the right amount of emotional damage. Her stories are character-driven, morally gray, and often ask one very important question: what if love was a little dangerous—and we liked it that way? After years of reading and reviewing books with too much angst, she finally started writing her own. She lives on the West Coast with her husband, their chaotic dog, and more book boyfriends than she’s willing to admit. Her TBR pile is a cry for help, her playlists are 80% heartbreak, and she’s always chasing the next character who’ll ruin her in the best way.
