Karina Voronova survived where survival was impossible.
On the day of her wedding, she lost her mother, her freedom, and the part of herself that knew how to trust. Ahmed’s people turned her life to ash, but Ahmed is dead—and yet the past continues to kill, using other people’s hands, found records, and secrets capable of destroying two families.
Said Narmuzinov is used to deciding other people’s fates. He knows how to protect, punish, and destroy, but he has absolutely no idea how to love without turning it into a cage. For Karina, he is a husband, an obsession, and the only woman before whom he is faced for the first time with helplessness.
When the truth about Fatima’s death comes to the surface, old crimes tie the Voronovs and the Narmuzinovs together in one bloody chain. Now Karina must decide whether she can stay close to a man who loves her harshly and unconditionally.