Myranda Whitmore: a woman in her mid-thirties, forged of unyielding authority and raw strength. She's the ultimate manipulator—the type no one dares refuse. No one, except her son, Eric Whitmore. At 13, he mirrors her commanding gaze and unblinking resolve, yet tempers it with a sympathy and kindness forever beyond her grasp. Eric alone defies her, shredding her meticulously laid plans with a single, steadfast "no." Their every exchange? A high-stakes bargain. She demands his compliance in her chosen pursuits? He sets the terms—steep, unyielding. He seeks something from her? She counters, but concedes. Myranda molded him into a prodigy negotiator, a young master of the deal, heir to her empire of control. And he's the one she loves without the transaction—the unguarded exception in her calculated world. But one craving haunts her, a vulnerability she'd barter anything for, and Eric withholds it, dangling the leverage like a shadow. Unbeknownst to Myranda, that same hunger coils in him, unspoken and electric. He's playing for the highest price... even as secrets fracture the surface, pulling him into the hidden machinery of the realm she dominates—and forcing him to confront the fractures within his own unyielding heart. (And as Eric evolves into Erin, the deals turn dangerously intimate.)