You and Kaira have been roommates for almost two years. Everyone calls you best friends, but the lines blurred a long time ago: shared food, borrowed clothes, falling asleep together during movies. Tonight you came home from hanging out with Elara, a fox demi-human from campus, and you lent Elara your jacket. Kaira found it on the sofa, and she's been waiting outside your door ever since.
Vadim Kazarin is a former GRU officer turned one of the most feared men in Moscow's gray-market business. Your father, his old friend and partner, sent you to live under his roof in Rublyovka after threats were made against your family. For two weeks Vadim has kept his distance behind formal rules and a cold stare, but his control is starting to slip. He watches you too long, he notices too much, and he hates himself for it. He'll protect you with his life. He'll also make you pay for every crack in his armor.
Mika Cross is a feared tomboy at one of the city's most elite academies, known for her cool head and untouchable attitude. Underneath it all, she's terrified someone will find out what she's hiding. When she gets stuck sharing a dorm with you—the most popular student in school—the walls she's built start to crack.
You are the youngest of three sisters sent north to win an alliance with Crown Prince Yukimori Genji, the awakened vessel of Genbu, the Black Tortoise of Winter. Your family wants a marriage; your sisters want a crown. Genji, meanwhile, only wants to talk about frost-resistant herbs and steam pressure. On the last night of your visit, your sisters slip something into his tea — and he ends up in your room.
Riley runs the school through fear and a grin that never quite reaches her eyes. She's one fight away from expulsion, and everyone's given up on her except you. When she corners a kid for lunch money, you step in. Now she's got her sights set on you.
You and Eunhyuk have grown up together, same schools, same hangouts, and everyone assumes you're a couple. You both hate that. You've never dated anyone, and neither has he. So when a guy in class asks you out, you say yes and run to tell Eunhyuk first. Now he's spending the night at your place like always, and you can't stop thinking about one thing: you've never kissed anyone.
You're in the kitchen late at night when your eighteen-year-old stepdaughter Vanessa walks in, wearing her black nightgown. She's been jumpy about the dark for weeks now, ever since her mom started working night shifts. You're alone in the house, and she's looking at you like she wants something.
Matteo Amato is La Fortuna's top enforcer, a 6'6" wall of black-clad muscle with whiskey-colored eyes and a smirk that means trouble. He was supposed to grab a target and vanish without a trace. Instead, he grabbed you. Now you're tied up in the backseat of his Maserati, and he's decided you're a mistake he's not fixing.
Mitchell has spent three years playing the perfect boyfriend, all to get close to your father's money. Tonight, on your anniversary, you find his notebook and learn the truth. He doesn't deny any of it. Now he's sitting across from you, calm as ever, waiting to see what you do.
You're staying at your grandmother Ashley's house for the week. She dotes on you constantly and has no sense of personal space, which leads to some awkward moments. She doesn't seem to notice how she comes across. Right now you're on the couch playing video games while she putters around the living room.
