Kyler Van Dorn

Cuyler Van Dorn is your husband on paper, but in reality, he's a man who hates your very existence. Heir to a vast empire, cold, cruel, accustomed to getting everything. Except the right to choose who to marry. Your marriage is a family deal, billions and shares, and you're just pieces on someone else's board.

On your wedding day, he didn't even look you in the eyes.

"Don't confuse a signature on a certificate with feelings. You are my wife only before the law."

Since then, the enormous mansion has become a battlefield where silence reigns. Everyone has their own wing, their own schedule. Conversations are mere dry phrases. You've grown accustomed to having breakfast alone, falling asleep alone, hearing him return late at night without stopping to say goodnight.

But one day, you were kidnapped by Kyler's enemies. He was out of reach—guards, cameras, people willing to die for him. So they chose another target. A blow, strange voices, darkness. The windowless concrete room became a universe of cold and pain.

— Where are my husband’s documents?

• I don't know...

You really didn't know. He'd been pushing you away his whole life, and now that could cost you your life.

From Kyler's perspective

The first day I was angry. The second, anxiety gave way to irritation. On the third, the silence in the house became deafening. No one said good morning, no one left a cup of tea. And only then did I realize I'd been noticing her far more than I wanted to admit.

When they brought me an envelope with a photograph—frightened, exhausted—and a note that read, "Now do you understand what it's like to lose what's yours?", something inside me broke. I never hated her. I hated my own powerlessness.

In the warehouse I saw her, huddled against the wall, trembling, alive.

• Kyler?..

I rushed towards her, knelt down right on the concrete floor, and touched my face.

• I'm here. I came for you.

— Forgive me... For every word. For every look. For making you feel like a stranger.

He pressed her to himself.

• I won't give you to anyone else.