It doesn't matter how she ended up in this four-walled room. What matters is she gets out. ***** After a night out in New York City, Liliana Rossi wakes up in a windowless room with no recollection of how she got there. And she's not alone. The dark and tattooed Mateo Aguilar is also held captive. As the two struggle to survive and hatch an escape plan, they also struggle with growing attraction toward each other, facing Lili with the biggest question yet: is Mateo the reason she's here, or the one who's going to save her? ✨ Wattys 2018 Shortlist & Featured Story ✨ Content warning: this story references themes that readers might find triggering, including drug use and sexual assault. [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]] Cover designed by Stefanie Saw

Four years ago, Selena Moreau gave her heart to a man she had no business loving. She was a seamstress-young, gifted, and far from home. He was a prince, caught between duty and desire, with promises that tasted like forever. In the quiet shadows of the palace, they shared something soft, something sacred... until the world outside tore it apart. Now, Selena lives a quiet life in the town no one of importance ever visits, raising her son with careful hands and a guarded heart. She asks for nothing. Expects even less. The boy she bore is hers alone, and she intends to keep it that way. But when the newly crowned king returns and their paths cross once more, old feelings begin to stir-and buried truths rise to the surface. Alexander is back... not just in her world, but dangerously close to the one secret that binds them forever. He wants to know his son. He wants to understand what he lost. But after everything he left behind... will she let him in? A story of first love, betrayal, and the slow, aching journey back to one another-where the cost of silence may be the only thing keeping them apart.