Harriet Feng is trained to control narratives, manage public crises, and keep emotions out of the room. She fails at the last one. Before Veris Group-before her first morning at Wilcrest, before the rules that would later bind her-she meets Ethan Hale as just a man; brilliant, reserved and dangerously magnetic. She doesn't know he will become her mentor. By the time the truth surfaces, the line between professional duty and personal desire has already blurred. When Harriet enters the high-pressure world of crisis management, she discovers that control is an illusion. Secrets take root. And what begins as an unspoken connection grows into something that neither of them is prepared to survive untouched. As public scandals unfold and private choices carry consequences, Harriet is forced to confront what it means to love someone you cannot have-and what it costs to keep standing when the world insists on testing you. Trauma leaves marks that don't always show. Healing isn't linear. And sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is choose to keep going. Set against the sharp edges of power, reputation, and moral gray areas, this is a story about love found at the wrong time, strength forged in vulnerability, and the quiet resilience of two people from opposite sides of the same relationship, learning how to live after everything breaks.