I KISSED THE CEO—AND WOKE UP HUMAN

In a glittering, ruthless Manhattan ruled by the tidal race—where women bear scaled, fish-like features, and the hue of one’s scales determines birthright, status, and worth—gray-scaled Chloe has always been dismissed as cheap, disposable, and unworthy. On New Year’s Eve, while delivering confidential merger files at a penthouse gala, she is publicly humiliated by Penelope Vance, a golden-scaled heiress who sees her as nothing more than invisible office help. In a split-second reckless impulse at the midnight countdown, she pulls Nicholas Winters, the company’s icy, untouchable billionaire CEO, into a searing kiss. Waking in his penthouse suite hours later, Chloe makes a horrifying, unthinkable discovery: her dull gray scales have vanished completely, leaving a soft, fully human face. To every tidal woman, full reversion is the unmistakable sign of impending death. A cash-strapped community clinic delivers the crushing verdict: late-stage tidal gland failure, with only months left to live. Trapped by her stepfather’s crippling gambling debts, her mother’s relentless exploitation, and the terror of being exposed as “defective,” Chloe accepts Nicholas’s shocking proposal: a three-month contract marriage. She will pose as his devoted wife to satisfy his grandfather’s ironclad trust requirements; he will provide her with elite medical care, financial security, and a shield from the world. But as Penelope launches a brutal, escalating campaign to ruin her and unearth her secret, C