Chapter 12: Burning Barriers.

Violet Virgilson.

His words still scorched through me long after they’d been spoken.

Addicted.

Vincent Virenson said it like a fact, like gravity, like the sky was blue and hell was hot. Like my entire existence could be reduced to the sound of his voice, the taste of his mouth, the grip of his hands pinning me in place.

And worse? A treacherous, whispering part of me was terrified he wasn’t wrong.

I hugged my knees tighter, burying my face against ...