Chapter 1

When the clerk at the marriage registry called my name, Simon Quinn was trending with his new leading lady.

The headline was impossible to miss: [Simon Quinn Announces New Film], [Mia Lane Cast as the Female Lead]. I was supposed to be that female lead.

I sat on a lobby bench, my phone still open to the chat from half an hour earlier. Simon had sent me a photo from the first day of filming.

Mia wore the look-test dress that should've been mine, smiling in front of the character board I'd spent eight months building.

Simon said in the voice message, [Summer, do not make a scene.

[The investors changed the cast at the last minute. My hands are tied. Issue a statement saying you left to plan the wedding. I will make it up to you with another film later.]

After I listened to it, it felt like someone had punched me in the chest. Tidebound was the movie I'd been preparing for since last winter.

I read the original novel seven times, stayed in the pool until I ran a fever, cut carbs for three months, and lost 13 pounds for the role.

At the final table read, Simon still held my hand and said, "Summer, this role was written for you."

Then, on the first day of filming, he gave the role to Mia and discarded our three-year engagement along with it.

The man beside me hadn't said a word. When the staff called our number again, he gently pulled the crumpled ID card from my hand.

The man said, "Summer Hughes. It is our turn."

I looked up into Leo Carter's eyes. A black baseball cap and face mask obscured most of his features, but I knew those eyes all too well.

Leo Carter, a three-time Best Actor, the man who had asked me three days earlier if I wanted to marry him.

Three days ago, I came out of Tidebound's table read with my throat raw.

Leo stopped me at the stairwell with a cup of warm apple cider.

Leo said, "Summer, if you ever decide to get out from under Starlight Studios and Simon, come find me. I can help you."

I thought he was joking. He was at the very top of the film world, while I was a second-tier actress who'd only recently started landing lead roles.

The only real interaction we'd had was last month, when he casually blocked the drink Simon tried to hand me backstage at a gala.

But now I was sitting at the marriage registry. The man I was supposed to marry had thrown away both my role and our engagement, while Leo pushed the registration form toward me.

Leo said steadily, "There is still time.

"Walk out now, and I will pretend today never happened.

"Stay, and this certificate takes effect today. I will block the fallout for you, and you can take the role back yourself."

I stared at the form and asked, "Why me?"

Leo looked at me, his throat bobbing once. "Because I want to marry you.

"This is not impulse, and it is not charity.

"You are not in the mood to ask now, but I will tell you everything later."

People moved through the lobby as the numbers kept getting called, but I didn't ask anything else.

I picked up the pen and signed my name on the marriage form. Summer Hughes.

The moment I finished, I felt strangely calm.

Simon and Mia had taken my role and my engagement, but what they really wanted was to see me cry on set, beg them, swallow it all, and help them smooth things over with the lines they'd handed me.

But I refuse to play along.

When the official seal came down, Leo handed me the marriage certificate. It was a thin little booklet, yet it felt like the first real card I'd had to play all day.

He asked softly, "Cry now, or handle business first?"

I tucked it into my bag. "Business first."

Leo seemed to exhale quietly. "Good. Then tell me what you still have."

On the way out, I pulled up the backups on my phone for him to see: my raw audition footage, the table-read recording, character notes, and the costume approval emails.

There was also the line Simon had sent me after midnight: [Summer, just take the hit for now. Once the movie comes out, I'll make it up to you.]

Leo glanced at it and handed back the phone. "Keep all of it.

"Do not lose your temper yet. Put the timeline in order first.

"You are an actress, not someone who throws public tantrums. If you bite, bite where it hurts."

I looked at him. "Why don't you seem surprised at all?"

He opened the car door for me and shielded my head with one hand. "Simon did not suddenly become like this today.

"Today is simply when you finally gave up on him."

The words were like a thin needle, piercing right through me.

Once we were in the car, Leo did not start driving. He took a brown file envelope from the console, set it on my lap, and said, "Open it."

Inside was a copy of my contract with Starlight Studios, every added clause clearly marked. I froze. "How do you have this?"

Leo fastened his seat belt and said evenly, "Last year, you worked yourself into a fever on Silent Breeze. On the way to the hospital, Tanya Reed mentioned that your contract was too restrictive.

"I had my legal team review it.

"If you never wanted to leave, I would not interfere.

"But if you did, I wanted the blade sharpened first."

I stared at the papers, my chest warming despite myself. Even Tanya had only remembered that I'd gotten sick that night, but Leo had already studied the predatory clauses buried in my contract.

No time to be touched, he handed me a tablet. "Page three first.

"What you signed with Tidebound was not a formal acting contract. It was only a priority agreement and a schedule hold. If they accuse you of breach, do not accept it."

I looked down and turned to the page, my grip tightening. He was right.