"I need him off of me! Why did I let him touch me?" She collapses onto the floor and rests her head against the tile. "Why doesn't anyone who is good ever want me?"
I reach over and lightly touch the bruise on her neck.
"This isn't your fault, Alicia."
"It is."
"No. Wanting to be held and touched and to feel good... that's nothing to be ashamed about. It's a basic need to want to feel affection...to feel good. But how did he do it was wrong. You don't need to feel dirty. A decent man wouldn't use your body or any woman's body to degrade her."
I kiss the bruises on her arms and kiss the bruise on her hip.
"I would never."
On the surface, 28-year-old Alicia Johnson has it all. A successful advertising agency, a penthouse in Manhattan, and everything she could possibly want at her disposal.
She also has a secret addiction resulting from years of abuse from her rich and powerful parents.
When her company snags an important account with a prestigious law firm, Alicia finds herself drawn to the dark and mysterious Jonathan Hutchinson Jr., son of legal extraordinaire John Hutchinson.
But Jonathan has a secret of his own, he is also an addict who is fighting demons of his past.
As Alicia and Jonathan’s worlds unravel, their love is tested by old wounds, destructive habits, and the painful truths they've both tried to bury.
When past secrets are revealed, they soon find themselves heading on a downward spiral of self destruction. Will their love for eachother be enough to pull them from rock bottom? Or will they lose everything?

She was his fated mate-until he cast her aside. Marked by rejection and left to pick up the shattered pieces of her heart, she swore she would never let herself be broken again. But fate is relentless, and when a second chance mate steps into her path, she faces a choice: risk her heart once more or guard it behind the walls she built to survive.
Yet love is not the only battle she must fight. The rogues are rising, their threat creeping closer like a storm on the horizon. War is inevitable, and with it comes the ghosts of the past-secrets buried, betrayals unmasked, and a reckoning that could tear everything apart.
As the lines between love and loyalty blur, she must find the strength to face her enemies and herself. Will she embrace the future waiting for her, or will the scars of the past hold her back when it matters most?
The heart can heal, but only if she dares to let it.