N. L. Blake

Being broke, orphaned, and one bad grade away from losing my scholarship was already enough to keep me busy. I wasn’t here to make friends, fall in love, or get noticed. My rule was pretty simple, stay invisible, stay focused and survive. But then he happened. Nickel Vance. His rich, arrogant, and sinfully good-looking. The kind of guy who thinks the world revolves around him and maybe it does. Everyone either wants to be him or wants to be with him. But me? I just wanted to stay far, far away. Until I made the mistake of standing up to him. Now I’m on his radar. And once Nickel Vance sets his eyes on you, there’s no escaping. He’s everywhere, at the parties, in my classes, even in my dreams. He teases, he provokes, and he plays dangerous games that make my heart race and my walls crumble. I hate him. I really do. But hate has never felt this electric before. Then there’s Damien. He’s the calm after Nickel’s storm. The quiet danger wrapped in a tailored suit and a voice that could melt steel. A man far too old for me, far too powerful, and far too tempting to resist. When he looks at me, I forget how to breathe. When he touches me, I forget every reason why I shouldn’t want him. But fate has a cruel sense of humor because Nickel and Damien are stepbrothers. And soon, I’ll be living under the same roof as both of them. One is chaos and the other is control. Both are addictive in their own twisted ways. I never wanted to be part of their world, yet here I am caught between two broken men who see something in me they shouldn’t. Nickel wants to break me. Damien wants to save me. But the deeper I fall, the more I realize neither of them might be what they seem. Because love isn’t supposed to hurt. Desire isn’t supposed to feel like punishment. And I’m starting to wonder if I’ll survive being theirs. This isn’t just a story about bad boys and forbidden attraction. It’s about obsession, power and the thin line between love and hate. And the girl who walked right into the fire thinking she could make it out unburned.