T McKinney-Battle

Four young women enter into a clandestine auction to be married to the highest bidders. For no less than a million dollars a year, for three years, each woman will do what it takes to secure her future. Entangled in a high-stakes game of money, lust, power, and the hope for absolution, this group of women becomes a sisterhood unlike any other.

Stable, safe, predictable—all words that aptly describe Professor Nadia Day’s life. An existence she’s carefully crafted for herself despite her unconventional upbringing and what, to her, is an unseemly past. The last thing she would ever do is rock the boat when it comes to her life and livelihood. When retired football player and single dad, Nathan Moore, walks into her psychology classroom, all fine and dreadlocked, he does more than rock her boat—he rocks her world and causes her to question her buttoned-up existence.

Outspoken and more than capable of backing up her words, loan officer, Denise Buhari, is finally back on her feet after years of rebuilding her life following a horrible marriage and divorce. But just when she is ready to head into a future she's sure will be bright, the rug is pulled out from under her again.

Former career student Nicole Strickland is smart, spoiled, loud, irreverent, and flagrantly promiscuous. Her greatest desire is to live a life of leisure, and Attorney Travis McClure is just the man to make her dreams come true. Entrepreneur Damon Davis is Nicole's best friend, has been since they crossed paths in second grade, and has loved her for as long as he's known her.

Quinn Caruthers has several problems: her father, Jason, and her three older brothers, Jared, Madoc, and Jaxon. Under the close watch of the men in her family, Quinn has found it nearly impossible to spread her wings - or even date - without them jumping in to hover. And when a family friend - several years older - from her childhood captures her heart, she knows they're going to be a problem. Lucas Morrow is a man - experienced, sophisticated, and important. And knowing her brothers, he may as well be forbidden.

Claire Gracen's life is picture perfect. Her career as a marketing director is on the brink of being legendary, and her marriage to her high school sweetheart has never been stronger. No, wait. It has. It used to be amazing and fulfilling, but one day Claire realizes that she's been living a lie and her best friend and husband have committed the ultimate betrayal. Broken and depressed, Claire is in need of something new - new city, new job, new friends.

Cruel. Coldblooded. Hades in a Brioni suit. Cillian Fitzpatrick has been dubbed every wicked thing on planet earth. To the media, he is The Villain. To me, he is the man who (reluctantly) saved my life. Now I need him to do me another small solid. Bail me out of the mess my husband got me into. What’s a hundred grand to one of the wealthiest men in America, anyway? Only Cillian doesn’t hand out free favors. The price for the money, it turns out, is my freedom.

Raised to resist. Bred to fight. Survival is in my blood and surrender is never an option. Though surrender is what Maxim Cade demanded of my body and heart, I had other plans. We were fast-burning fascination and combustible chemistry, but the man I trusted with everything was a trickster. A thief who stole my love. If what we had was a lie, why did it feel so real? The man I swore to hate will have it all, and wants me at his side. But power is a game, and we're the pawns and players. Facing insurmountable odds, will we win the world, or will we lose it all?

My path takes me far from home and paints me as the black sheep. At odds with my father, I'm determined to build my own empire. I have rules, but Lennix Hunter is the exception to every one of them. From the moment we meet, something sparks between us. But my family stole from hers, and my father is the man she hates most. I lied to have her and will do anything to keep her. Though she tries to hate me, too, the inexorable pull between us will not be denied. And neither will I.

Dan's survived a lot. Her mother died. Her two sisters loathed her. One aunt hated her. The other was strangely distant, but the worst storm was being dumped by her childhood best friend/high school boyfriend/first love for her younger sister. There went the one person who was hers and with that, the main reason she stuck around. So, she left for 10 years. But now she's back, and nothing's the same.