It wasn't until Cameron that I knew what real darkness was...or that I'd crave it so much.

I'd let the world weigh down on me - pull me under until nothing made sense anymore. Maybe that's how I let myself get into the mess in which I was currently. Maybe that's how I was in my current situation with a man I knew could save me from a fate worse than death. Even if being with Cameron and giving him the only part of me that was worth anything - my body - might very well ruin me, I had to survive.

Drug lord. Crime boss. Murderer. I should fear him, be horrified by what he wants from me, by who he was. But instead, I find myself wanting to please him, wanting to give myself over completely.

Because I know that gave me control over him.

Cameron Ashton reined over the gritty underworld, the danger and violence of depravity, from his throne. A pistol was his sword, and apathy was his second-in-command. I knew he was dangerous, knew he would break me and not think twice. But he was my only chance, the only way I'd survive.

He was possessive and controlling, claiming he owns me. And he does...every part of me. The darkness in him ran stronger, deeper than it ever had in me. Maybe we're not so different? Maybe giving up my control to Cameron, giving him my very soul, made me the powerful one?

Maybe, in the end, I'd be the one who owned him.