The Startup Marriage

Arielle Johnson built her company from nothing and lied to save it.Six months ago, in the pitch room of her career, she told a top D.C. venture capitalist that her husband had been supporting her behind the scenes. There was no husband. There was barely time to sleep. The lie was supposed to be forgotten by morning.Now the lie is at risk of being exposed during a key investment meeting. And the only man who knows enough to help her sell the lie convincingly is Malcolm Reed, her executive assistant of two years, and the quietest, most brilliant man in the office. Arielle is faced with giving Malcom fifteen percent equity and a wedding ring, or risk losing it all.Six months. One closed-door arrangement. One ticking clock.One Black female CEO standing at the edge of her own runway with the man she'd been overlooking for too long.The strategy was clean. The contract was airtight. The marriage was supposed to dissolve.And then it stopped being a strategy.What readers will love:A Black-led contemporary romance with a Black female CEO and Black male leadA boss-and-assistant power-shift trope with full reader payoffSharp, character-driven prose set in D.C.'s tech and venture worldA slow-burn, closed-door romance with no explicit contentA satisfying HEA that earns every word of it