For three years, Bella gave Adrian Sterling everything — her loyalty, her love, and the quiet support behind his rise to power. But the moment Adrian secured control of the Sterling Group, he destroyed her in front of the entire world. Standing beside his glamorous new lover, he publicly announced that Isabella Hawthorne was “dead,” erasing the woman who helped build his empire as if she had never existed. Humiliated and betrayed, Bella vanished without explanation. Three months later, she returns. Not as the forgotten woman Adrian abandoned… but as Isabella Hawthorne — the untouchable heiress of one of the most powerful financial dynasties in the country. At a high-stakes investment conference, Adrian is moments away from winning the project that could secure his dominance forever. Then Bella calmly raises her bidding paddle. “Fifty million.” With a single sentence, she steals the deal he spent months fighting for and shocks the entire business world. Now Adrian finally realizes the truth: the woman he discarded was never weak. She was simply hiding her crown.

For three years, Bella gave Adrian Sterling everything — her loyalty, her love, and the quiet support behind his rise to power. But the moment Adrian secured control of the Sterling Group, he destroyed her in front of the entire world. Standing beside his glamorous new lover, he publicly announced that Isabella Hawthorne was “dead,” erasing the woman who helped build his empire as if she had never existed. Humiliated and betrayed, Bella vanished without explanation. Three months later, she returns. Not as the forgotten woman Adrian abandoned… but as Isabella Hawthorne — the untouchable heiress of one of the most powerful financial dynasties in the country. At a high-stakes investment conference, Adrian is moments away from winning the project that could secure his dominance forever. Then Bella calmly raises her bidding paddle. “Fifty million.” With a single sentence, she steals the deal he spent months fighting for and shocks the entire business world. Now Adrian finally realizes the truth: the woman he discarded was never weak. She was simply hiding her crown.

It all started with a lie. Two years undercover, nurturing a fabricated love to take down the biggest drug dealer in the West. Adrian Cross was my target, and I was the perfect weapon: a rose with poisoned thorns. I captured him, smiled at his suffering, and thought the medal of honor was guaranteed. But he escaped. Now, the hunter has become the hunted. He doesn't just want revenge; he wants to possess me. "I will reclaim my rose," he wrote in blood. And he's willing to set the world on fire to do it, starting by turning my deceitful love into a real… and fatal addiction.