Rochelle Banks knows exactly what powerful people do when a body turns their luxury retreat into a liability: polish the facts, contain the panic, and find an employee disposable enough to blame. The Black crisis strategist has built a career forcing ugly truths into language that can survive lawyers and cameras. But a dead investor in a moonlit pool, wolf tracks on wet tile, and a missing key point to a scandal no press statement can tame.
Darius Cole is the controlled wolf-shifter general manager standing between Rochelle and every answer she needs. He protects his staff with quiet ferocity, respects her competence, and looks at the exhaustion beneath her calm far too closely. Forced to work side by side while rich guests turn disaster into content, Rochelle wants the one man whose restraint feels as dangerous as the secrets he keeps.
With an acquisition closing in and the resort’s hidden world threatening to break into public view, Rochelle must decide how much of her reputation she will risk for the truth—and whether desire can survive it. Darius may be the first man to want her as a partner instead of a shield. But if he asks her to make one more lie sound beautiful, walking away could cost them both far more than a contract.
