Dangerous allure

r of the compound, a cloying sweetness that onl

e imposing stone walls, topped with glinting razor wire – a verdant pr

golden

Lena mockin

iron railing, the metal cool beneath her

quiet that had settled over the estate sin

her closed bedroom door: hus

d" and "secu

not a man given to panic, but the tre

. Davies, her perpetually flustered housekeeper, was directing

since Aria was a child, her worried cluc

pered to Aria that morning, her ey

n on the

pushing away f

ys more men. It

very object a testament to her father's desir

cked out by her personal stylist, Celeste, who visited w

t through the quiet – the deep rumble of an engin

unch of tires on the grave

sleek and menacing, pul

breath h

car like it enter

ng a pair of worn leather boots. Then, a long,

nfamiliar tremor of antici

imself from the vehicle wit

broad shoulders that strained a

ling just past his collar, and hi

gaze swept the perimeter, a silent, assessing sweep tha

every potentia

. He exuded an aura of quiet power, of contained danger,

wards. They locked onto hers, even though she

passing between them. He didn't smile, didn'

of warmth. It was the look of a predator assessing its

nt door of the mansion burst open. Her father, Senator Thorne, emerged

!" he

hand. "You're

stomach

ae

he man her fathe

hispered with a mix of fear an

er's best friend, yet whose presence

ime, a dark, unsettling glint in their depths,

t from beneath the cuff of his shirt – a tattoo, just

ve heat. Her golden cage had just ga

ng her carefully constructed, b