A high-society romance where pretense turned into reality.
 
Van, the heir to a top-tier fortune and a regular on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, had been mocked for being perpetually single, with even rumors swirling about his "dysfunction."
 
Winnie, a Hollywood superstar desperate to escape her constant barrage of scandals, encountered this billionaire worth tens of billions. To her surprise, Van presented her with an unexpected proposal:
 
"Pretend to date me for a year. You won't have to do anything else. I'll pay you $100 million after taxes."
 
She planned to laugh it off but couldn't ignore the man's chiseled features—the way his shadowed face was lit up as he casually raised an eyebrow and lit a cigarette in the glow of firelight, his voice steady and laced with danger.
 
She remembered their first meeting in a torrential downpour—the man reclining in a silver Maybach, eyes half-closed, exuding charm yet utterly unattainable. She also remembered later, when everyone had believed him to be unshakable and untouchable, he had appeared alone, worn and weary, at her remote desert film set, quietly asking:
 
"Do you really have to shoot this kiss scene?"
 
Behind this contract lay something far deeper than money—a fixation, a love that had turned real, or perhaps an irresistible force neither of them had recognized.
 
$100 million had set the stage for a high-stakes battle of love and hate that would ultimately unravel.

A Love Confession from Las Vegas

He had asked "why" countless times tonight. Some of those questions he already knew the answer to, but in this moment, his heart was filled with genuine confusion.


He had never imagined that he would struggle to even say the word "love."


The way she defined "love" carried a weight he couldn't quite explain, as though this "liking" would bring endless disaster and suffering, which was why she had chosen to reject it.


His thoughts inevitably drifted back to that phone call he had overheard by accident.


"So, you really love someone else, even though he's married, and you can't be together, which is why you agreed to our contract?" Van's heart felt as if it were being crushed by a heavy stone, the pain unbearable. The weight of that stone continued to roll down, striking his heart, leaving him gasping for air.


"You just want a little bit of fake affection within the boundaries of the contract, so the money you earn won't feel too meaningless."


Chapter 128