Book excerpt: My life was full of my sister's laughter and miles of green trees. Then the black car came. Strangers in sharp suits dragged my father back to a past he kept hidden. Worse, they made him choose one of us-his own children-to go and live with his enemies. It's a way to keep him working for them... and from running again. I'm a hostage. The food is fancy, the carpets are lush, but this bed isn't mine. I don't belong here and my head and heart know it. I'm painfully alone. And then I'm not. The first time I meet Dominic Bradley, he saves me from a maid with a pair of scissors. This sweet boy is nothing like the rest of his family. He becomes the only sunlight in these smothering halls. The one person holding me together. When he leaves for six years, it shreds my soul. It's nothing compared to when he comes back. Gone is my sweet boy. In his place is a hardened soldier ready to obey his father. He's gained new demons; and I've lost my only friend. Dominic acts like he's forgotten our past. But I can't. It's impossible to forget the moment I fell in love. I know where we began. I'm not sure where we'll end.