Isabella urgently needs five hundred thousand dollars to save her critically ill parents, and with no other options, she turns to Dylan, her former college classmate—now the leader of the Black Emperor gang, who controls the underground order of the entire city. Dylan hands her a contract: one year as his lover in exchange for full medical expenses.
What she didn't know was that Dylan was under pressure from the gang elders to marry Zoe—to strengthen the gang alliance. Dylan needed a reason to refuse the marriage proposal, and Isabella's appearance was his only excuse, as well as the secret he had kept for four years.
He had intended to restrain himself, treating her merely as a nominal shield. Yet, Zoe's relentless pursuit, the undercurrents of the gangs, and Isabella's gradual lowering of her guard before him made it increasingly difficult for him to hold back. Meanwhile, Isabella, through repeated crises, began to see the overwhelming devotion beneath the reserved demeanor of this man born of a bastard—until she transformed from a protected figure into an accomplice, voluntarily donning the crown of the Black Queen.
