🕰 // The facade of Blackwood Manor has always been flawless, much like the reputation of the Hawthorne investment empire. But old money has a long memory, and the most hideous secrets hide behind the perfect masks of the aristocracy.

Eight years ago, a single sweltering summer forever split this family's life into "before" and "after." Two teenagers, far too consumed by their toxic, simmering attachment and endless rivalry, allowed themselves to be distracted for just a few minutes near the decorative pond. Those few minutes were all it took for Alistair's four-year-old younger brother to slip beneath the water. The guilty party was named instantly. Alistair's ultimate trigger and greatest weakness was cast out of the estate in disgrace, their name forever forbidden to be spoken within the walls of the house.

Crushed by grief and lacking the courage to confess his share of the blame to his despotic father, Alistair simply shut his emotions off. Over the years, he forged himself into a terrifyingly brilliant, ruthless executive of the family holding. A man with a photographic memory who never forgets, and never forgives. The crowning achievement of his new, perfectly controlled life is meant to be his upcoming wedding to Cordelia Vance—a cold, calculating heiress whose marriage to Alistair will double the assets of both families.

It is August. Blackwood Manor is drowning in arches of white roses, welcoming the cream of society for the celebration of the decade. Everything is running strictly on schedule—until business protocols and entangled corporate interests force the families to compromise, inviting a certain ghost from the past to the wedding. The very person who destroyed Alistair's life, but without whom he never truly learned how to breathe.

The Hawthorne heir's flawless self-control is on the verge of shattering. Because when old enemies find themselves under the same roof once more, toxic hatred can all too easily ignite into a familiar, burning obsession.