A girl like Anabia always knew where she would end up. She had heard it all her life from her mother, her sisters-in-law, and every woman who had come before her.

When you grew up among the Hashims, life didn't offer women many choices at all. Because that was what they believed women were, something to raise, groom, and eventually give away in the name of revenge, alliances, and business.

Anabia had always known how her story would end.

But knowing your fate and accepting it were two entirely different things.

It still hurt to think about all the dreams she had nurtured in the quiet solace of her room. The dreams she never dared speak aloud. Dreams that belonged only to her.

Now they were all gone, vanished into thin air the moment she signed those papers and tied herself to him.

Faris Shah.

The oldest enemy of the Hamshims.

And now, her husband.