“He was my safe place… until I became his obligation.”When Maya Sinclair’s father gambled away everything — their home, their pride, and their future — he left only one thing of value behind: his daughter.Maya thought she’d hit rock bottom.Until the day she was sold…To Liam Ford — her childhood best friend, her quiet protector, the boy who once made her laugh through her tears.Now, the man who owns her.But the boy she once knew is long gone.In his place stands someone colder, harder — with a haunted gaze and a voice like velvet over broken glass.Liam doesn’t smile anymore.He doesn’t speak unless necessary.And when he looks at her, it’s not love she sees — it’s something darker. Something dangerous.He hasn’t forgotten how she disappeared from his life five years ago.He hasn’t forgiven her for breaking a promise they made beneath a sky full of stars.Now, he's making her pay for it — with silence, control… and a cruel kind of closeness.But as days bleed into nights, the tension between them becomes unbearable.Anger turns into heat.Hate begins to tremble beneath the weight of everything left unsaid.And Maya begins to realize: she may have been sold, but her heart has always belonged to Liam.The only problem?He might never give her back.