Collateral Damage: Book 1 of Love Is War Series

Clay needed a wife.

Muse was trying to get away from an unhappy home.

Two different family dynamics, but they both lacked something they could never seem to find.

Love.

Clay lived in a home where he was seen as an asset-someone to hand the family business down to, so long as he got married and had a child.

Muse was a reminder to her father of the wife who lost her life when giving birth to her. Neglected and ignored, she yearns to break away and find her place in the world.She just didn't realize that it would be so difficult.

"I am prepared to offer you a...a different kind of deal," he told the older man. "No physical money exchanged, you get to keep your home, and your mortgage would be paid in full within twenty-four hours of signing the papers."

"What about your mega-mall?" Muse blurted out. This sounded too good to be true, and she never trusted things that seemed too perfect. Plus, she didn't trust the man the least bit. There had to be some sort of catch.

"The part of the mega-mall that would sit on your property would be at the edge of a six-story parking lot. It wouldn't make much of a difference if I added another story or two instead of expanding the mall onto the meager acreage of your property. I can have my architects redo the blueprints with the new prospective footage, in any case."

Bryant's eyes narrowed on the man before speaking. "What's the catch?" the man asked. At that, Clay smiled.

"I wouldn't call it a catch-more like...fair trade."

"And what would I be trading? We have nothing besides this house and an old clunker of a car on its last legs sitting in our garage," Bryant warned him.

"I would trade you full possession of your house for-" Clay smiled and cleared his throat. "-for your daughter."