When broke college senior Tessa Vale accidentally falls into the orbit of Julian Cross—New York’s coldest young tech CEO—she expects a paycheck, not a destiny. He pays her tuition. She swears she doesn’t owe him anything. He calls it “support.” She calls it “danger.” The world calls her a gold-digger. What they don’t know is that Julian has been secretly watching over Tessa long before she ever stepped into his office. Not obsessively— devotedly. The kind of devotion that scares him more than it scares her. In public, Julian Cross is ruthless, unreadable, and untouchable. In private, he remembers the exact day Tessa walked into his life. He remembers the snow in her hair. Her thrift-store dress. The way she argued with him twelve minutes late to her interview. And when rumors swirl, when the world calls her bought and cheap, Julian does the one thing he’s never done for anyone— He shows up. Every time. But Tessa has secrets, too. A prepaid escape card hidden under a toilet tank. A heart that wants him but a spine built for survival. A fear that loving him will erase the girl she fought so hard to become. When a leaked photo album exposes Julian’s obsession—and a midnight-blue “revenge dress” puts Tessa in every headline—their careful arrangement shatters into something dangerous, addictive, and undeniably real. He’s ready to ruin his reputation to claim her. She refuses to lose herself to love again. But some disasters are worth choosing. A slow-burn billionaire romance filled with tension, secrets, rain-soaked confessions, midnight noodles, and the kind of devotion that feels like falling—and surviving. He was never her sugar daddy. He was always her witness. And she was always his chaos.