!!! Sequel to Deceptive !!! Lily Stone doesn't run from the fire - she walks right into it. By night, she rules the clubs and rooftops of LA, high on neon, smoke, and the rush of forgetting. By day, she keeps her last piece of sanity alive at Ember & Ink, the tattoo shop she built from nothing. Zayn, the magnetic king of the city's nightlife, feeds her chaos. He gives her everything she thinks she wants - fast nights, faster highs, no questions. But Lily can't outrun herself. And when Harry - the man she swore was part of the past - steps out of the shadows, the world she's built starts to crack. He isn't here to save her. He's here because he couldn't stay away. As old enemies close in and Lily's wild world starts to burn, she'll have to choose: keep losing herself in the night or fight for something real before it's too late. Defiant is a dark, gritty romance about love that rebuilds, desire that destroys, and what it takes to come home to yourself. * * * !!!TRIGGER WARNING!!! CONTAINS DRUG USE, SEXUAL CONTENT, EMOTIONAL ABUSE, PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION, TRAUMA THEMES, POWER IMBALANCE, OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE, GRAPHIC CONTENT, VIOLENCE

"Why do you care?" he asks. But it's not soft. It's sharp, defensive, like he's already bracing for the answer. I want to tell him the truth. Because you saved me. Because you're the only one who makes me feel real. Because if you fall apart, I don't know what happens to the rest of us. Instead, I just say, "Maybe I want to understand." He scoffs, no humor in it. "You don't. Trust me." Silence stretches between us. Then he steps forward, close enough that I can see the way his hands won't stop shaking. "You already know too much," he says, voice low. "More than you ever should've." I don't look away. "Then tell me the rest." He shakes his head. "It's not your place. You don't get to ask." "But I am asking." He exhales sharply. "Jesus, Lily. This isn't a story with a clean ending. I'm not a mystery. I'm a goddamn warning sign. I'm dangerous." I flinch, but I don't move. And that pisses him off more. He takes a step back like he's going to leave, then pauses. His eyes flick to my jacket. In one quick motion, he reaches in and pulls out the burner phone. "I think this belongs to me," he says, tone sharp but quiet. No accusation. Just fact. I don't respond. Just watch as he slips it into his pocket, like closing a door I wasn't supposed to open. He looks at me for one long second, jaw clenched. "Go home," he says again, this time like a warning. And this time, I believe him. He crushes the cigarette under his boot, turns his back, and walks down the alley, leaving me standing in the dark. - Lily didn't ask to be assigned to him. Harry Styles is a name whispered like a warning, famous for his ink, infamous for everything else. Brooding. Untouchable. But Lily has a habit of looking too closely. And when she finds something she shouldn't, the line between curiosity and consequence begins to blur. He told her to stay away. She should've listened. - TW: emotional abuse, manipulation, drugs, sex, violence, trauma.