Chapter 1

The taxi pulled up to the curb, and Sophia Reed stepped out into the cool evening air. She tilted her head back and stared up at the hotel building that stretched into the darkening sky, all glass and steel and glittering lights. The Grand Aurelia. One of the most expensive hotels in Nightvale. The kind of place where a single night cost more than her monthly salary.

Marcus had really outdone himself this time.

She clutched her small purse tighter and tried to calm the nervous flutter in her stomach. Tonight was their 200-day anniversary. Two hundred days since Marcus had looked at her across a coffee shop, smiled like she was the only woman in the room, and asked her to be his girlfriend. He wasn't perfect. He forgot things. He wasn't always attentive. But he was safe. And after years of living under the shadow of Leonardo Ferri, safety was the only thing Sophia craved.

She and Marcus had met back in college. He was a business major, quiet and unassuming, the type of man who held doors open and remembered birthdays. They hadn't started dating until after graduation, when Sophia began working as a receptionist at a small logistics company on the quiet edge of the city. The company was intentionally small, deliberately unremarkable. A place where she could earn a living without drawing attention. A place where Leonardo Ferri's name never reached.

She had been so careful to stay invisible.

Sophia smoothed down her dress a modest burgundy number she had saved for three paychecks to afford and walked through the hotel's revolving doors.

The lobby was breathtaking. A chandelier the size of a small car hung from the ceiling, casting golden light across marble floors so polished she could see her own reflection. Guests in evening wear moved through the space like characters in a film she wasn't supposed to be in. She felt small. Out of place. But she lifted her chin and approached the front desk anyway.

"Good evening," she said, her voice steady despite the butterflies in her chest. "I'm here for a reservation under Marcus Webb."

The receptionist, a woman with flawless makeup and a practiced smile, tapped at her keyboard. "Ah, yes. Room 1407. Your partner has already checked in." She slid a key card across the counter. "Enjoy your evening, Miss Reed."

Sophia murmured her thanks and made her way to the elevators. Her heels clicked against the marble, each step echoing in the vast space. She pressed the button for the fourteenth floor and watched the doors slide shut.

Alone in the elevator, she let out a long breath.

Two hundred days.

She should be happier. Marcus was stable. Marcus was kind. Marcus didn't look at her like he wanted to destroy her. And yet, in the quiet moments, when she let her guard down, her mind still drifted to dark hair and cold eyes and a voice that had whispered cruel promises in her ear since she was fourteen years old.

She shook the thought away. Not tonight. Tonight was about Marcus. Tonight was about moving forward.

The elevator dinged. She stepped out into a quiet hallway carpeted in deep burgundy. Room 1407 was at the end of the corridor. She swiped the key card, heard the lock click open, and pushed the door.

The room was empty.

"Marcus?" she called, stepping inside.

No answer.

She frowned but told herself not to be disappointed. Marcus loved surprises. He was probably hiding somewhere, waiting to jump out with flowers or balloons or whatever men brought to 200-day anniversaries. She sat on the edge of the king-sized bed, her fingers brushing the expensive sheets, and waited.

A knock at the door made her rise.

She opened it to find a server in crisp white uniform holding a silver tray. On it sat a single glass of champagne, the liquid pale gold and shimmering under the hallway lights.

"Compliments of the gentleman," the server said.

Sophia smiled, accepting the glass. "Thank you."

She closed the door and carried the champagne back to the bed. She wasn't much of a drinker alcohol made her head fuzzy and her guard slip but her throat was dry from the taxi ride and her nerves were humming. She took a sip. It was crisp and cold and slid down easily. She took another. And another.

Before she realized it, the glass was empty.

She set it aside and frowned. The room suddenly felt too warm. She crossed to the thermostat and adjusted the air conditioning, then returned to the bed. A strange heat was spreading through her body, starting in her chest and radiating outward, curling through her limbs like smoke. She unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse and fanned herself with her hand.

What was wrong with her?

Her thoughts were growing thick and sluggish. The edges of the room seemed to blur and soften. She tried to stand but her legs felt unsteady beneath her. The air itself felt heavy, pressing against her skin.

Then the door clicked open.

"Marcus?" she breathed, rising on trembling legs.

But the figure that filled the doorway was not Marcus.

He was taller. Broader. His shoulders cut a silhouette that swallowed the light from the hallway. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him with a soft, final click. The darkness seemed to bend around him.

Before she could speak, before she could scream, she was pressed against the wall. His body pinned hers, hard and unyielding. His breath was hot against the curve of her neck.

"You've gotten what you wanted now, haven't you?"

The voice was low and rough, scraping against her fogged mind like gravel. Some distant part of her recognized it. Some buried part of her screamed. But the heat in her blood was too loud, drowning everything else out.

"Run away after this." His lips brushed her ear, and a shiver that wasn't fear ran down her spine. "Don't let me see you after tonight."

She tried to form words. She tried to push him away. But her body wasn't listening to her brain anymore. The heat had consumed her, turned her bones to liquid, and when his mouth crashed against hers, she kissed him back.

She didn't know why. She couldn't stop.

Her fingers tangled in his dark hair. His hands gripped her waist hard enough to bruise. He lifted her like she weighed nothing. They stumbled toward the bed, a tangle of limbs and desperate, frantic need.

Clothes were torn away. Buttons scattered across the floor. The expensive sheets twisted around them as they fell into the mattress. His mouth was everywhere her neck, her collarbone, the hollow of her throat. Her soft moans filled the room, mingling with his ragged breathing.

She didn't remember falling asleep.

The first light of dawn crept through a gap in the curtains, pale and accusing.

Sophia's eyes fluttered open. Her head throbbed. Her body ached in places she didn't know could ache. She tried to move, but a heavy arm was draped across her bare waist, pinning her to the mattress like an anchor.

She froze.

Slowly, carefully, she turned her head.

The arm was muscled. Masculine. A dusting of dark hair ran along the forearm. This was not Marcus.

Panic seized her chest. She gently lifted the arm and slid out from under it, her bare feet meeting the cold floor. A sharp, deep pain shot through her as she stood, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. She looked down at herself and her stomach dropped.

Red marks. Bruises on her thighs. Faint purple impressions of fingers on her hips.

No. No, no, no.

Her breath came in short, sharp gasps. She turned slowly, dreading what she already knew she would find.

The man on the bed was still asleep. His face was half-buried in the pillow, but she could see the sharp line of his jaw, the dark hair tousled and scattered across his forehead. Hickey marks trailed down the side of his neck. The sheet pooled low on his hips, revealing a torso carved from muscle and power.

Leonardo Ferri.

Her stepbrother.

Sophia's legs buckled. She dropped to the floor, her hand clamped over her mouth to muffle the scream clawing its way up her throat. Her entire body began to tremble.

"I just had sex with my stepbrother."

The words left her lips in a broken whisper, and the horror of them settled into her bones like ice. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be with Marcus. She was supposed to be escaping Leonardo's world, not waking up in his bed.

But here she was. Naked. Bruised. And more terrified than she had ever been in her life.