He bought her hand. He claimed her body.
Railroad baron Cornelius Vance requires a respectable wife to secure his empire. When he spots Lily Finch, a vibrant flower girl, he sees not a woman, but a 'project.' He buys her hand from her desperate father with an astronomical sum, intending to mold her into the perfect, obedient Duchess.
Lily is subjected to relentless tutoring and swift, intimate discipline to ensure her obedience in every aspect of their life. But when she becomes pregnant, Thorne's clinical control erupts into a terrifying, boundless possessiveness. He buys a private island to enshrine her as the sacred vessel of his heir.
Trapped in a gilded cage and pregnant with his child, Lily realizes her defiant spirit has been consumed by a love as absolute and terrifying as the formidable man who owns her, body and dynasty.
