Yaya thought she knew what kind of trouble could reach her daughter.
She was wrong.
When seventeen-year-old Maya sneaks out for one night of freedom, she ends up barefoot, terrified, and hiding behind a closed strip mall with her name already being dragged online. The boy responsible comes from a powerful family with money, police connections, and a charity polished enough to hide every dirty secret underneath it.
Yaya wants justice. Emil wants names.
He may only be Maya’s stepfather in the eyes of everybody else, but when she calls him instead of the man who shares her blood, Emil proves exactly who has been raising her, protecting her, and loving her all along.
As lies spread, witnesses disappear, and Maya’s own father chooses money over his child, Yaya and Emil are pulled into a fight against a family that knows how to make problems vanish. But Emil has old ties, steady hands, and a dangerous kind of patience.
They thought Maya was alone.
They thought Yaya would break.
They thought Emil would stay in his place.
They should have known a real father will go through hell or high water when his daughter is on the line.
