Aria never believed in blessings.At 22, she'd already surrendered her dreams, shattered by the brutal hands of the man who called himself her father, overlooked by a world blind to her hidden scars and aching desires. All she craved was a release, a way to lose herself in something darker and deeper.When her friend pulls her into a shadowy BDSM club, pulsing with the scent of leather and sweat, Aria anticipates just another empty night. But amid the haze of dominance and submission, her trembling eyes lock with the enigmatic figure who commands the room with a gaze that strips souls bare. One searing glance, and heat floods her core, her body betraying her with a rush of forbidden wetness.He slips her his card, his fingers brushing hers like a promise of ecstasy, but she discards it in defiance.Until the night her father's rage leaves her bruised and broken, her skin marked with welts that throb like unfulfilled urges, and she stumbles back to the only man whose stare made her feel desired.Standing before him once more, she begs to kneel at his feet, to be his willing sub. But Aria has no idea of the intoxicating truth.The man she's offering her body to isn't just the club's ruthless Master.He's her new boss at the towering corporate empire where she starts tomorrow.And he's been fantasizing about claiming her completely, body and soul, since that first electric encounter.Warnings: Explicit erotica, BDSM, domestic abuse, power imbalance (boss-employee), dark romance, graphic sexual content, themes of trauma and submission. Reader discretion advised.