She believes in verdicts. He believes in vengeance. And when her past comes hunting, only one of them gets to be right.

Angelina was my first love. My first ruin. I let her believe I’d abandoned her while I kept a closer watch than anyone could imagine—marking names, following footsteps, erasing threats.

Now she stands in a robe, with a gavel in her hand, and a daughter at her side. Untouchable on paper, fragile in truth.

I see the cracks she hides. I see how she tenses when someone comes too close. I see the fear she refuses to name.

The boy she knew is gone. What’s left is the mercenary who’s been guarding her life from the dark she doesn’t even see.

She doesn’t want me. She doesn’t trust me. Still, I won’t walk away. Not when there’s a little girl holding her hand who thinks I’m strong enough to chase the monsters away.

I’ll stand between them and the dark, no matter what it costs me.

In a world where mercenaries thrive in the shadows, love is the deadliest risk of all. Boundaries blur, alliances shatter, and protection turns possessive. The men of the Nightfall Syndicate will break your heart... and make you beg for more.