Book excerpt: It's bad enough when enemies try to take you down, but when it is family, you’re torn between loyalty and self-preservation. Dakota learned a hard lesson when he realized that he was protecting himself from the wrong people. His worst enemies couldn’t compete with the snakes in his bloodline. Aara finds herself stuck between feelings that she can’t deny and a need for self-worth. Sometimes life is complicated in ways that the heart can’t handle so you have to make the tough choices that could potentially shatter the depths of your soul. Preston finds himself falling, and he isn’t sure how to handle it. Love isn’t something he needs, or so he thinks, but Evvy seems to keep inching her way closer to the one thing he assumed was never accessible in the first place. His heart! With a family of snakes and a lifetime of lies, Dakota quickly realizes just how little he knew the ones who claimed to love him the most. The truth is supposed to set you free, but in his case, it’s holding him hostage to a life he never really wanted. Will he shake the restraints and find his peace, or will he be bound to a life that has no way out and no happy ending?