"You're my hero, Superwoman," he said, his voice rough like gravel - like he wasn't used to saying anything soft.

I smiled, his gaze steady as I tied the last strip of the bandage around his shoulder.

"How come my superpowers don't work on you and me?" I asked, quietly, like it wasn't already eating me alive.

He didn't flinch. "Maybe they don't work on people who already belong to you."

His callused hand brushed my cheek. My chest ached.

"Sukhala mama, ungowami wena."

And the tears came. Because I'd asked him to fake love me. And now I didn't know where the lie ended and the truth began.

He said "mama." inqondo yagoloza,intliziyo yavuma. (my brain said no, but my heart said yes)


Ngewami Mamba is a force-an award-winning gynecologist, tech mogul, and humanitarian with a passport full of stamps and a bank account in pounds, not rands. She's the woman every man wants and every woman envies. But when her younger sister announces an unexpected engagement, Ngewami's perfectly curated world tilts off its axis.

She was supposed to be first. The wife. The bride. The standard.

Now, with the spotlight slipping and her ego bruised, Ngewami will stop at nothing to beat her sister to the altar-even if it means faking a relationship with the one kind of man she's always sworn off:

A Zulu man.

Sharp-tongued, emotionally armored, and unapologetically ambitious, Ngewami isn't looking for love-she's looking for a win.

But love has a twisted sense of humor.

And it just might be written in bold, bloody Zulu.