
Evan Thorn, a sharp-tongued federal speaker, dies in his previous life after being isolated, poisoned, and framed by the people closest to power. Leo Valentino, the ruthless CEO who once mistook control for protection, discovers the truth too late and is dragged back in time with him. Reborn three years before the tragedy, Evan refuses to become anyone’s prisoner again, while Leo vows to protect him without owning him. As staged scandals, political traps, drugging attempts, assassinations, and a presidential conspiracy close in, the two are forced to stand together against Lena Harris and President Harris’s network of power. Between white oak knives, old misunderstandings, jealous tenderness, public confrontations, and dangerous reforms, Evan turns from a wounded survivor into a fearless player, and Leo learns that love requires permission, not possession. In a world ruled by capital and politics, they rewrite their ending—not as captor and captive, but as equals who choose each other.