King of Gluttony

The novel follows two lifelong rivals whose forced professional collaboration unravels decades of antagonism and unspoken desire.

Maya Singh is the chief brand officer of Singh Foods, a major frozen foods company run by her family. When a listeria outbreak hits the company's lasagna line, Maya stakes her reputation on pulling all frozen pasta products off shelves. Something about the contamination nags at her, a detail she cannot identify.

That same week, Maya's father, Neal Singh, and his longtime friend Michel Laurent, head of the Laurent Restaurant Group, announce an unexpected collaboration: a frozen food line combining both companies' strengths. To Maya's horror, she and Michel's son, Sebastian Laurent, will serve as project leads. Sebastian is Maya's lifelong rival. Handsome, effortlessly brilliant, and beloved by everyone, he beat her for valedictorian at their boarding school and has made her feel perpetually one step behind. He calls her "Sal," short for salutatorian, a pointed reminder of that defeat.

Beneath his golden-boy exterior, Sebastian harbors frustrations no one sees. His true passion is cooking, not corporate marketing, and he spends his free time perfecting a scallop recipe that never reaches his standard. His father refuses to let him leave the C-suite to become a chef, wielding a traumatic incident as leverage: Years earlier, a high-profile guest named Martin Wellgrew died of apparent anaphylactic shock at a restaurant soft opening Sebastian oversaw. Sebastian has carried crushing guilt ever since. Michel insists the corporate path is safer, and Sebastian, loyal to his family and unwilling to cause more pain to his mother, Yvonne, who is grieving her sister's death from brain cancer, has not pushed back.

Maya and Sebastian settle into a combative but productive working rhythm, securing celebrity chef Derek Gardiner to headline the collaboration. Their dynamic shifts privately: Sebastian crashes one of Maya's dates at a family restaurant, sending her a chocolate cake with strawberries and a teasing note. When she calls him about it, he says he sent it because she looked miserable, adding that he is "the only one who gets to make you miserable." Meanwhile, Maya's mother issues an ultimatum: If Maya is not engaged within a year, her parents will arrange a marriage for her.

Disaster strikes when Derek receives his third DUI and must enter rehab. Maya argues Sebastian should step in himself, citing his culinary training. Sebastian resists, terrified his involvement will lead to another catastrophe. Maya calls him a coward and warns that if he walks away without trying, their working relationship is over. Sebastian agrees, then leverages his indispensable role to force his father into a written contract: If the launch succeeds, Sebastian transitions to full-time chef.

Working late one night, they develop a pop-up restaurant concept for the launch where diners eat both frozen and fresh gourmet dishes and guess which is which. Their relationship deepens during a trip to Vermont to tour Maya's proposed venue, when a thunderstorm strands them overnight in the woods. Sebastian carries Maya on his back when her shoes shred her heels. By the fire, he whispers that if he could choose anyone to spend his last hours with, he would choose her. Afterward, Sebastian pulls away emotionally, giving Maya a generic gift card for her birthday instead of the meaningful present he planned: a gold locket containing a candid photo he took of her after she beat him in a university debate.

Months later, prompted by his hospitalized mother's advice to never take anyone for granted, Sebastian secretly places the locket in Maya's desk drawer. Maya finds it and begins wearing it. On Valentine's Day, Maya is on a date at a bar Sebastian's family owns. Sebastian corners her in a hallway, traces the locket chain, and asks "What changed?", referencing something from their past that Maya does not understand. At their next meeting, tension erupts. Sebastian delivers a precise description of what Maya needs in a partner, someone who challenges her and matches her intellect, concluding that her current date is not it.

At Maya's cousin Radhika's wedding in Jaipur, India, both attend without dates. They dance together, and when Maya asks why he came alone, Sebastian answers: "She wasn't the one I wanted to be here with." They share a passionate first kiss in the gardens. Later that night, their connection escalates into sex in the hotel stairwell. Maya panics afterward, terrified by how completely Sebastian dismantles her self-control. The next day, Sebastian lays his feelings bare: He has wanted to be with her through every iteration of their relationship. Maya freezes. Sebastian shuts down, references "the letter," and walks out, believing she is pretending not to know what he means.

Maya searches her parents' attic and finds a yellowed envelope in an old boarding-school notebook: a letter Sebastian wrote before graduation, confessing his love with raw vulnerability. She arrives at his door wearing his old sweatshirt and the locket. Sebastian is hostile, believing for 14 years that she received the letter and wrote a cold, dismissive rejection he has memorized word for word. Maya insists she never saw the letter or wrote the reply. She tells him she froze at the wedding not from indifference but from fear, and that her answer is yes. When Maya asks if he wants her to leave, Sebastian says no. They agree to date, with Sebastian insisting on courtship first. Over their first date, a culinary tour of New York, he opens up about Martin's death and the guilt he carries. They exchange "I love you" for the first time.

Their secret relationship faces immediate threats. Neal confronts Michel for secretly dining with Charles Whitaker, CEO of rival Whitaker Farms, and severs all personal ties between the families. Maya's sister Neha discovers the couple and pressures Maya to end the relationship. Maya refuses, resolving that Sebastian is the person she wants.

The launch event at the Vermont lodge begins brilliantly but collapses when guests begin vomiting midway through dinner. Sebastian freezes, reliving his worst nightmare. Reviews are scathing, stocks plummet, and Michel places Sebastian on administrative leave. Sebastian isolates himself for days. Maya arrives with her sabotage theory: Her investigator found laxative packaging under the kitchen fridge. She hires Christian Harper, a billionaire CEO and notorious hacker, who traces the sabotage to Whitaker Farms. Christian also uncovers that the company orchestrated the previous summer's listeria contamination at Singh Foods, confirming Maya's long-held instinct, along with evidence of further financial crimes.

Sebastian stages a confrontation at a steakhouse where Maya and Neal present the evidence, forcing Charles to confess publicly and resign. Michel then reveals why he had dined with Charles: He hired his own investigator and discovered that Martin was poisoned by an unknown third party. Sebastian's food did not kill him. Years of guilt lift from Sebastian's shoulders, and Neal and Michel reconcile.

A second launch at the Vault, a nightclub owned by Sebastian's friend Xavier Castillo, succeeds spectacularly: The frozen foods line sells out within a week. Maya and Sebastian announce their relationship to both families, who accept the news warmly. They also solve the mystery of the letter: A former classmate named Neville Grafton intercepted Sebastian's original letter, forged a cold rejection in Maya's name, and stashed the original in her notebook.

Fourteen months later, Sebastian opens his own restaurant, Nouvelle Époque. The star dish is seared scallops with strawberry basil salsa; the missing ingredient he spent years seeking was strawberries, inspired by Maya's favorite fruit. He proposes with a note tucked beside her favorite desserts. She says yes. They marry in two ceremonies, in France and India. Maya reflects that the fulfillment she spent her life chasing was never an award or accolade; it was being fully present with the person she loves.