Chapter 1

At twenty years old, she had the kind of life people dreamed about.

A beautiful mansion.

A private driver.

A wardrobe bigger than some people's apartments.

Parents who loved her.

A future that had already been planned down to the smallest detail.

And absolutely no control over any of it.

"Liana, you're not going out tonight."

Her mother's voice came from across the breakfast table.

Liana slowly lowered her spoon.

She had been waiting for this.

"Why?"

Her father didn't even look up from his tablet. "Because you have an early lecture tomorrow."

"I can wake up early."

"You've been going out too much lately," her mother replied.

Liana stared at her.

"Twice."

"What?"

"I've gone out twice this month."

Her father finally looked up.

"Three times."

"Three?"

"Your aunt saw you at a restaurant last Friday."

Liana almost laughed.

"So now eating at a restaurant counts as going out?"

Her mother sighed. "Don't twist my words."

"I'm not."

"Liana."

That one word carried a warning.

She knew the tone.

Her parents had different ways of controlling her, but they always ended the same way.

Her mother used concern.

Her father used authority.

And somehow, both made her feel like a twelve-year-old.

Her father placed the tablet on the table.

"Your mother and I have discussed your plans for the next two years."

Liana's stomach sank.

"Plans?"

"Yes."

"What plans?"

"You'll finish your degree, complete your internship with Hart Enterprises, and then begin working in the company."

Liana stared at him.

"You decided that?"

"We discussed it."

"Without me?"

Her mother reached across the table.

"Liana, we're only trying to make sure you have a secure future."

"I already have a future."

"We know."

"No, you don't."

Her father frowned.

She pushed her chair back slightly.

"You decide what I study. You decide where I work. You decide who I'm allowed to spend time with. You even decide when I'm allowed to leave the house."

"Because we are your parents."

"And I'm twenty."

Silence.

Her father leaned back.

"Being twenty doesn't make you experienced."

"I didn't say I was experienced."

"You don't understand how the world works."

Liana swallowed the anger rising in her chest.

There it was again.

The same conversation.

The same words.

The same invisible cage.

Her mother softened her voice.

"We aren't your enemies."

"I know."

"Then why do you behave as though we are?"

"Because sometimes you treat me like one of your investments instead of your daughter."

Her mother's expression fell.

Liana immediately regretted saying it.

But she couldn't take it back.

Her father stood.

"Enough."

Liana stood too.

"I'm going upstairs."

"You're staying home tonight."

She stopped.

"I didn't say I was going anywhere."

Her father's eyes narrowed.

"You were planning something."

Liana forced a smile.

"No."

It was the first lie of the evening.

Her father studied her for a moment before walking away.

Her mother remained seated.

"Liana."

She looked back.

"Please don't make this difficult."

Liana's smile disappeared.

"I've been making everything easy for everyone my entire life."

Then she walked upstairs.

The moment her bedroom door closed, Liana leaned against it and exhaled.

Her room was enormous.

Cream walls.

A king-sized bed.

A balcony overlooking the garden.

Designer clothes arranged neatly in her closet.

Everything she could possibly want.

Except freedom.

Her phone buzzed.

She pulled it from her pocket.

A message appeared.

Maya: Party tonight. Don't tell me you're staying home again.

Liana stared at the screen.

Another message arrived.

Maya: Please tell me you're coming.

Liana looked toward her bedroom door.

Then toward her balcony.

A slow smile appeared on her face.

For once, she wasn't going to ask permission.

She typed.

Liana: I'm coming.

She changed quickly.

Black jeans.

A fitted top.

Sneakers.

She tied her hair into a loose ponytail and grabbed her small handbag.

Then she stood in front of the mirror.

For years, she'd been the perfect daughter.

Perfect grades.

Perfect clothes.

Perfect manners.

Perfect decisions.

Tonight, she wanted to be anything but perfect.

She opened the balcony door.

The drop to the lower garden wasn't impossible.

She had watched her cousin sneak out this way countless times.

Liana carefully climbed down.

Her feet touched the grass.

She froze.

Nothing happened.

No alarms.

No shouting.

No punishment.

She laughed quietly.

"I'm actually doing this."

For the first time, Liana Hart felt completely free.

She slipped through the garden gate and disappeared into the night.

She didn't know that the party she was heading toward would introduce her to the one person capable of turning her carefully controlled life upside down.

Damon Black.

And she certainly didn't know that before the night ended, she would wish she had never met him.

Or wonder how she had ever lived without him.