Seven million dollars. That was the price tag on my life.

To save my father, I signed myself away to a man I'd never met. A ghost. A monster hidden in the mountains. Titus Kane doesn't want a wife, and he certainly doesn't want a lover. He wants an asset. He wants a blank slate to break, mold, and train within the soundproof walls of his private dungeon, The Vault.

I arrived trembling, clutching my coat like armor. I expected pain. I expected humiliation. I expected to count down the days until my release.

But the Beast of Blackwood didn't just take my clothes and my freedom; he took my control. With every lash of the crop and every tighten of the rope, he stripped away the terrified girl I was and revealed the submissive waiting underneath. I should hate him for owning me. I should run from the dark desires he wakes in my blood.

Instead, I find myself dreading the day the contract ends. He bought my body to settle a debt, but he's stealing my soul to satisfy a hunger I never knew I had.

I am Elara Vance. And I am being trained to submit.