I always knew darkness crept through this city; like a shadow, it never really goes away, always watching, always waiting. People sin and people kill; it's a way of life. I just never expected to be thrown into the middle of a war I had no hope of surviving. Alexander Silver is as brutal as he is beautiful. A devil in disguise. The man destined to end me. I didn't go looking for trouble, and yet it found me, nonetheless. I could either join it or let it crush me.

In the beginning, there was Savannah Shaw. Teasing me with a mischievous, merciless grin by day. Crawling through my window with tear-stained cheeks by night. I was ordered to avoid her. Lectured on her misdeeds. Forbidden from seeing her. But my need to protect her was innate. So natural I never questioned it. So visceral I couldn’t fight it.

Once upon a time, I was an 18-year-old psychology student. Now, I'm a man's property. Stolen and sold, I've been decorated in bruises since the day my world changed two years ago. I suffer in silence, I crave freedom, but I never break. I can't. Until he arrives. Elder Prest, the only man to look at me and see me. The only man more ruthless than my owner. He wants me for reasons I don't understand. He claims me for one night then leaves and never looks back. Until he returns. And life becomes much more complicated.

Lazzaro Rosetti just locked eyes with fresh prey: the virginal, high-school girl from a rival family. Me, Mia Bianchi. He’s screwed his way through half the city’s female population and he’s running wild—until his family finds a way to curb his behavior by forcing him to wed.

He was the talented bad boy everyone wanted. I was the irrelevant geek everyone hated. He was the sun...drawing all of us in. I was a black hole...taking up space. He was destined to be a star. I was destined to remain an insignificant no one. Until he made me believe I was special...and then he destroyed me. I never thought I'd see Phoenix Walker again after he broke my heart, but fate had other plans. One tour. Eight weeks. Forty shows. Countless opportunities to make him pay. The world thought he was a god...but I know the truth.