by Rina Kent
First published 2025
The protagonist faces an impossible choice when Adrian Volkov, the city's most feared man, makes her an offer she cannot refuse. Prison awaits if she says no. Accept his proposal, and she must pretend to be his deceased wife. She needs shelter and chooses what seems like the easier path. Acting cannot be that difficult, she tells herself. She discovers how wrong she is the instant she takes on the dead woman's identity. Everything she thought she understood crumbles around her. Adrian controls every aspect of his world with absolute authority. No one defies his commands. Now she belongs to that world, trapped in a role that grows more dangerous each day. Her survival depends entirely on navigating Adrian's unpredictable moods and demands. She begins to question whether relying on him offers any real safety, or if she has simply traded one form of captivity for another. The deception consumes her as she struggles to maintain the pretense while searching for another way out.
Genres: romance, crime, contemporary, deception
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity, unreliable-narrator
Setting: City
296 pages · Paperback · Blackthorn Books
Content warnings: abuse