Jasper Jean Mariano learned early that love is a liability.
Once a girl who believed in quiet promises and stolen moments, she was shattered by a betrayal that forced her to choose survival over softness. Returning to New York, she buried her heart beneath power, strategy, and steel—rising as the cold, respected CEO of the Mariano empire.
Years later, the past refuses to stay buried.
Keifer Watson—the boy who once knew her in shadows, the heir who walked away when she needed him most—is now a man feared across industries and underworld alliances alike. A CEO. A rival. A memory she never allowed herself to heal.
When their worlds collide again, unresolved pain resurfaces alongside a truth JayJay was never meant to learn: the betrayal that broke her may have been an act of protection.
Torn between anger and longing, power and vulnerability, JayJay must decide whether the man who once destroyed her deserves a second chance—or whether some shadows are better left untouched.
Because shadows don't love softly.
And neither do they.