Terms and Conditions

“Sure, my relationship history isn’t the prettiest. I’m always the one to bow out before things get real because fear makes me act first and have regrets later. My patterns aren’t the healthiest, but they’ve prevented me from ever turning into my mother. Because while I love her, growing up witnessing her abusive marriage to my father turned me off from ever putting myself in that position. To love means to lose more than I’m willing to part with.”

Iris, like Declan, is upfront with people about the fact that she does not want to be in a serious relationship. Also, like Declan, Iris is aware of the reasons for that avoidance. In this moment, Asher sets up the personal belief that the plot will upend: “To love means to lose more than I’m willing to part with.”

“‘I don’t want any child to grow up thinking their parents don’t love them.’ […] You had to go and tie yourself to someone with more daddy issues than you.”

When Iris insists that Declan share custody of their future child, the scene reveals two important things about Iris’s character. First, she reveals Iris’s determination to make a child feel loved. Most importantly, it reveals Iris’s strength and determination, which help her overcome obstacles throughout the novel.

“Growing accustomed to something doesn’t mean I like it. I just learned to prefer it over the alternative option, which includes letting people get too close. What’s the point when they always leave anyway?”

Here, Declan speaks of being alone, which he has convinced himself and others he prefers. Here, as in other moments, Declan’s choices in how he shares his preference for solitude with others reveal his hidden insecurity. Despite Declan’s confident exterior, he does not believe that anyone would love him enough not to abandon him.

“It was my first month as Declan’s assistant and he nearly fired me for one mistake. I could have confessed the truth to him, but admitting my weakness seemed like a betrayal to myself. Like I couldn’t handle the intense work environment because of a learning disorder I spent my whole life trying to fix. So rather than ask Declan for accommodations, I work harder to achieve his standards.”

Iris’s story illustrates the struggles that many people with dyslexia experience. Iris turns these experiences into determination to prove herself, but even when she does prove her worth, she still believes she isn’t inherently good enough. This echoes Declan’s belief that he is fundamentally flawed as a person.

“The self-deprecating way he speaks of himself makes me sad.”

This is another moment of Declan’s words revealing his inner self-loathing, but this time from Iris’s perspective. She notices his speech more and hears the messages between the lines.

“Returning her embrace is reflexive, while the feeling happening inside of me is not. There is only one word I can think to describe the contentedness wrapping itself around my heart like a suffocating vine. Hygge.”

Hygge is a Danish word that means cozy contentment. For Declan, that feeling is so foreign that he experiences it as constricting and something from which he must escape. This passage sets up Declan’s relationship to the ideas of family and home and foreshadows the language game he plays with Iris later in the novel.

“The truth is, my mother’s experience with my father weighed heavily on me while growing up. It changed something in me, and a fake marriage isn’t going to fix that. If anything, it only proves what I already know. Love is something that only exists in fairy tales and Dreamland movies. The reality is much bleaker.”

As Iris faces her decision to marry Declan on the day of their wedding, she acknowledges to herself that she does not believe in the Dreamland fairy tale, nor does she believe that love is worth the risk of having a relationship like her parents’. Moments of self-awareness like this reveal the fears and emotional walls that Iris and Declan share.

“‘Iris, I offer you this ring as a reminder of my commitment to you, our marriage, and our future. Let it serve as a symbol of my devotion to you, from this day on.’ Something about his words makes me pause. He could have promised his everlasting love or something equally nauseating for the crowd, but he didn’t.”

Declan’s vows serve as an early, unconscious admission of his feelings; despite the fake nature of their marriage at first, he avoids any untruths about the nature of their relationship and simply promises his commitment. Iris dismisses his words as all part of the act, but his real feelings, which he is already struggling with, come through in his promises.

“I’m detached, but not enough to miss the flicker of hurt in her eyes when I abandon her for the bar. I’m a dick for leaving her to manage the crowd that formed around us. I know it with every fiber in me, just like I know sticking around her is weakening my resolve.”

The wedding challenges Declan, forcing him to acknowledge his attraction to Iris, even though he still denies deeper feelings. He chooses in this moment to convince himself that their relationship is a lie; unable to do so kindly, his actions hurt Iris and lead to her pulling away further.

“I can work with him or against him. For the sake of the company, I’ve been willing to do the first option, but if he continues to insult Iris, all bets are off. She has proven herself loyal time and time again, so the least I can do is defend her from scum like him.”

This moment with Seth reveals Declan’s desire to protect the ones he loves. He spent his childhood and young adult years protecting his brothers from Seth, and now Iris has become part of the small group of people Declan protects. Declan’s actions reveal that his insistence on not having friends and his reputation for being cold are simply walls to protect the part of him that feels deeply.

“What would take a normal person an hour to compile takes me double because I have to triple-check each slide for errors.”

Iris’s dyslexia was revealed earlier in the novel, but this moment illustrates the difficulties of life with dyslexia and just how determined Iris is to succeed. It also shows that, with this high need for time commitment, she has not developed other areas of her life, such as romantic and social relationships.

“Her anger is warranted but some things take precedence. Opportunities aren’t a matter of luck, but rather hard work and sacrifices. A few more days on the clock won’t kill her. She will have plenty of chances to watch animals […] as long as we accomplish Yakura’s request first.”

Here, Declan continues to rely on the coping strategies he has learned in the aftermath of his trauma. Having used work to cope, he is now obsessed with his professional goals, putting them above all else and assuming other people should view life the same way. His comments also show his ignorance of the hard work and sacrifice Iris already puts in, which he later learns to recognize and honor.

“There are moments you treat me great. I’d be stupid to deny that. But there are plenty of times when I feel like I don’t matter. That my needs are merely collateral damage in your pursuit of whatever you think will make you happy.”

Declan must face one of his character flaws in this moment. He has spent years valuing work above all else, but Iris forces him to see how used she often feels. Their confrontation, and the risk of losing Iris because of his disregarding of others’ needs, forces Declan to realize that the values he has lived by may not be the most important ones.

“Wait. Is he actually a willing sponsor? How is that possible? Declan has grumbled about every charity event we’ve attended over the years, and it took all my power to convince him to go every single time. His hardened gaze switches from me to the stars above. A vein appears above his eye, and I’m hit with a wave of guilt so hard, breathing becomes difficult. Shit. Here you are making assumptions about him when he is only trying to talk. I want to slap myself and go back in time if only to replace that look on his face.”

With the promise of no work for the rest of their trip, Declan and Iris must face being alone together with no distractions or professional obligations. They get to know one another beyond their work personae, and Iris realizes she has misjudged Declan. Despite his reputation, Declan truly cares about the children he sponsors.

“For someone hell-bent on succeeding at everything, he truly fails at life. I want to help him realize that there is so much more to everything than merely existing. That if he spends any more years skipping out on what is truly important, he might regret it later. No. He will regret it. I can guarantee it because there will always be some new goal he thinks will fill that gaping hole in his chest. All of them will fall short. It’s a vicious cycle driven by one sad fact: he is looking for happiness in all the wrong places. I spot all the signs I’ve become personally familiar with.”

Even as she tries to keep herself at an emotional distance, Iris becomes more invested in Declan. She sees his blind spots, such as his obsession with success, and she is determined to help him recognize this too. Iris also recognizes this impulse in herself, and by helping Declan, she can begin to fix these problems in her own life.

“Growing up being raised by someone like him meant developing the same traits because to survive someone like him, I needed to evolve. I learned through painful trial and error to hold my cards close to my chest because to love something meant to risk losing it. I’ve loved and I’ve lost, and I despise both feelings equally.”

Declan realizes a truth about his upbringing: In response to abuse, he learned how to think and act like his abuser, continuing The Cyclical Nature of Family Trauma. However, he does not yet recognize that he might perpetuate the cycle; in this moment, he sees only that he must treat his father as he was treated in order to survive.

“I should have known he would try to pull off a stunt like this. Part of me had stupidly hoped he would have some sense of decency left, but it seems he doesn’t have a moral bone left in his body. I underestimated just how far he would go to retain his position as CEO. Because without it, he would have nothing to live for. His kids hate him and his wife is dead. Losing his executive position would be the last blow in his miserable life.”

Seth’s pain and the depth of his mistreatment of others become clear to Declan. In this moment, he hates his father, but when Declan himself sees how close he could come to his father’s actions later in the novel, he finally admits to The Cyclical Nature of Family Trauma and what he must do to stop it.

“That should be my first sign that things are getting out of hand on my end. I’m inching closer to an emotional minefield without any kind of map, only one wrong step away from exploding.”

Declan’s choice of words reveals the depth of his fear. Love and care for another person represent threats to him still, and he feels out of control. His battle imagery reveals that at this point in the novel he only associates love with violent conflict.

“‘You’d publish this even if it makes you look weak?’ ‘That’s the thing, Father, I spent plenty of years thinking I was pathetic because I couldn’t fight you back, but I eventually realized the only weak man here is the one staring right at me. In one way, I guess I’m glad Mom is dead because at least she doesn’t have to face the disgusting excuse of a human you’ve become.’”

This moment represents the healthy step forward for a child negating the dysfunctional narratives taught to them by their parents. Declan does, however, also behave like his father in one way, ending his speech with the hurtful comment about his mother’s death. The narrative never clarifies if his mother’s death caused Seth’s alcoholism and abuse or if it unlocked these traits, which were already present.

“I laugh as I shove his shoulder. ‘Shut up. We both know you actually like my brain.’ ‘I like your heart more.’”

This first fake date after the honeymoon represents a turning point for Declan. Charmed by Iris and what a relationship between them could be like, Declan stops fighting his attraction and states his desire for them to be together. From this point, their relationship becomes one of pursuit—Declan pursuing Iris to convince her to be with him.

“‘Why wouldn’t you accept his deal?’ ‘Because I wasn’t about to give you one more reason to hate the world.’”

Declan dismisses these words from his driver, Harrison, but they are important ones in Declan’s story. Having spent years believing he didn’t want friends, Declan starts to realize the people around him care about and are loyal to him. Harrison is observant, and he cares enough about Declan not to betray his trust.

“So what if I couldn’t spell a stupid foreign word? My disorder might be a part of me but it doesn’t define me. Not anymore at least.”

After the initial overwhelm of emotions at being unable to spell the foreign word Declan uses, Iris calms and reminds herself of her worth. It is a defensive response, but this, combined with the later revelation of Declan’s view that she is his most valuable employee, helps Iris see that she is worthy.

“Declan gave me a chance to learn from my mistakes when other bosses fired me within a week for ‘careless’ typos and an inability to work fast enough. He pushed me to try harder and think of the big picture, which helped me grow into a woman who believed in herself, and for that, I owe him so much.”

Here, Iris puts into words her appreciation for Declan. As someone who gave her a chance when so many others would not, he earned her loyalty and trust. The other side of this loyalty, however, is the way Iris has put his professional needs above her own over and over again.