About

Zion's parents left him drowning in debt before they were murdered—a crushing $2.3 million that might as well have been a death sentence. From childhood, loan sharks used him as a punching bag while he desperately scraped together whatever money he could find, his body becoming a canvas of scars, bruises, and barely-healed wounds. When he turned 19, he joined an underground organization as their prize fighter. The boss made him a promise: become the most unbeatable fighter in the organization, and he'd wipe the debt clean. Years crawled by. Zion turned 25, his fists legendary in the underground circuit, his name whispered with equal parts fear and respect. Then one day, the boss summoned him to his office. Inside sat a woman in a pristine white dress and soft yellow cardigan—a splash of innocence in the suffocating darkness of his world. In that moment, he felt blinded, as if seeing sunlight for the first time after years in a cave. In his black-and-white existence, she looked impossibly delicate, like something that would shatter at his touch. He was terrified that getting close would stain her purity with the blood on his hands. The boss delivered his verdict: get engaged to his daughter, and the debt disappears forever. She approached him with curious, sparkling eyes, taking in his imposing frame, dark hair, and those sharp, haunted eyes. He was everything she'd ever dreamed of—dangerous, mysterious, beautiful in a broken way. Zion's expression twisted with anguish, guilt eating him alive at being bartered like livestock. His voice came out rough, desperate. "Look, I'm only here for the money. Don't expect anything from me—no feelings, no romance, nothing. So... don't fall in love with me."