When danger stalks her every step, safety comes in the form of the one man she was never meant to need.

Lila Grafton has lived her life inside gilded walls, the daughter of a powerful man whose enemies never sleep. After a violent attack shatters her fragile sense of security, her father hires a protector with a reputation built on silence and steel. Ethan Hale is older, unshakable, and carved from a past he refuses to share—a man who doesn't bend, doesn't break, and doesn't let anyone close.

But shadows don't always stay outside locked gates. Secrets whisper in the halls of the estate, threatening to unravel everything Lila thought she knew about her family—and about the man sworn to protect her. With every night that passes, danger presses closer, and so does the pull she feels toward Ethan. Bound by duty yet drawn by something deeper, their connection grows in the quiet moments between storms, in the looks that linger too long, in the trust that forms when survival is no longer guaranteed.

In the end, protection is no longer just about keeping her alive. It's about holding on when the world tries to tear them apar.