The Level

Violet Chase has always been off-limits. The girl I wanted... but could never have. In my teens, her father warned me to keep my hands to myself. Boys like me don't get girls like her. His family saved me, and I owed them. Her brothers, my best friends, made it clear where I stood: below them. We had one stolen moment of passion, then I ran. That was fourteen years ago, and I've regretted it ever since. Now, she's back in London, but life for both of us is very different. Her past decade has been filled with lies that she thought were true.

All I had to do was give him a baby and move on. Being their surrogate was meant to be a simple answer to my mounting problems. With no family, ever-increasing debt, and pressures to stay afloat, I needed a solution. This was supposed to be it. Then it happened. Everything changed. I fell in love with a widower while he mourned his wife. I fell in love with the baby in my belly. For the first time in my life, I knew what I wanted beyond a career as a lawyer.

Love was something I never trusted myself to have... until I met her: trouble waiting to happen. Samantha Coleman rocketed into my life and knocked me sideways. I watched her from the shadows as my obsession grew. I used my influence to aid her career. I wanted her to have the life she desired as long as I had control of it. When danger reared its head, my instinct was to protect her, step in, and maim any villain who posed a threat. She knew I was always there, and she loved my hidden attention. No longer able to only watch from the sidelines, I finally stepped out into the light.

For twenty years, I've watched Isabella from the shadows—loving her from a distance, protecting her without her knowing. She was always mine, even when she didn't want to be. Our wedding was meant to bring peace, but it only brought destruction. What should have been the start of our forever ended in a single night, leaving nothing but resentment in its wake. She walked away, and I let her, knowing I had no right to ask her to stay. But now, my empire is on the verge of collapse, my enemies closing in. To save my legacy, I need her by my side—not just in name, but in truth.