Story Excerpt

The week after Christmas was a dream, a private world where Lily and her brother Alex were the only two people who mattered. But as New Year’s Eve approaches, the real world intrudes, and the boundaries of their secret love are about to be tested. First, Alex initiates a raw, private ceremony to claim the year ahead. He gifts her not with ribbon, but with a set of black leather cuffs and a collar—a permanent brand of his ownership. In the firelight of his room, he binds her to his bed and takes her with a rough, punishing intensity, marking her as his inside and out and sealing their devotion with a shattering climax.

But the true test comes when their parents return, throwing a sophisticated New Year’s Eve party. Forced to navigate a room full of people, Lily is given a second, more elegant set of restraints: a stunning platinum and rose gold collar and bracelets. She is to wear this beautiful, public brand of ownership hidden in plain sight. As the party counts down to midnight, the tension becomes unbearable. With a single look, Alex commands her to a dark library, where he tears away her public facade and takes her again with a frantic, urgent passion against the door. The countdown to the new year becomes the soundtrack to their forbidden union, a perfect, explosive collision of their secret world and the one they must pretend to belong to. This is a story of two lovers who redefine possession, proving that the most intimate celebrations are the ones no one else can see.