Synopsis
At thirty-seven, Elinor Halloway has built her reputation in the New York art world with precision and control. When a powerful patron slides a hotel keycard under her door — his foundation's 1.8 million dollars in exchange for one night — she doesn't feel the rage she's rehearsed for eleven years. She feels nothing. And that terrifies her more than the threat itself. Her solution is reckless: drive three hours north to a deconsecrated church in the Hudson Valley and convince Julian Vane — reclusive artist, auction record-holder, a man who returns no one's calls — to play her lover in public. One appearance. One evening. One lie to keep a predator at bay. But what begins as a transaction of appearances becomes something far more dangerous than either of them bargained for. In a world where every gesture is curated and every silence is strategic, Elinor must decide what happens when the rehearsal starts feeling real — and when the man pretending to want her stops pretending.
