For sixteen years, Kiera Hawthorne has been planning a funeral, all while playing the dutiful daughter. She orchestrates her father’s charity galas by day. By night, she’s the shadow tormenting him with haunting reminders of the wife he slaughtered. Promising to get her mother’s revenge, she’s so close to the grave she can taste it. She didn’t count on a distraction.

Sterling Wraith is methodical, obsessive, and broken in all the ways that matter. Hired by Wade Hawthorne to find the shadow hunting him, Sterling never thought he’d meet someone who is as damaged as he is. Infiltrating Kiera’s life, his focus is slipping away from the job and toward the thorn that is spreading an infection through him. A voice echoing through his mind: No one will ever love you.

Their collision is violent, an obsession colliding with a mission they both set out for. And when the truth about Cicada surfaces, they’re left with one question:

Were their souls always meant to match…or built to burn everything around them?

Content warnings: Child abuse, sexual violence (past), domestic violence, dubious consent situations, graphic violence, human trafficking, miscarriage, and stalking framed as romantic obsession. For 18+ readers only.