He's an ex-assassin haunted by his past. She's a sorority girl who sees right through his walls. One drunken kiss was all it took to shatter both their worlds.

Talon escaped the deadly Confradia at sixteen, choosing freedom over a life of killing. For years, he's lived in the shadows, carefully building a quiet existence in Oregon. No attachments. No complications. No weaknesses. Until her.

Yesamin is everything he can't afford to want—a vivacious sorority girl who blasts Taylor Swift and radiates the kind of joy he gave up hoping for long ago. Their paths should have crossed just once, a drunken kiss in the dark that he could forget. But fate has other plans.

Now she's everywhere—at his favorite record store, outside his hidden spots, in every quiet moment when he lets his guard down. Each encounter draws him deeper into her light, even as his instincts scream to keep his distance. Because Talon knows the truth: the Confradia doesn't let its own escape, and loving her could be signing her death warrant.

But Yesamin challenges everything he thought he knew about staying hidden. With every shared glance, every accidental touch, every moment he fails to push her away, his carefully constructed walls crumble a little more.

In a world where his past is always hunting him, can Talon risk letting her into his future? Or will the price of love be paid in blood?
"Her fingertips brushed against the vinyl record, just out of reach. I could help her—should help her—but that would mean getting closer. And I was already too close for my own good."