Madi_Scientist
Can someone truly love you if they believe they own you?
Carmine has spent every day she can remember inside Dominic Voss's laboratory.
To the outside world, Dom is a brilliant young scientist. To Carmine, he is her protector, her entire world, and the closest thing she has ever known to love.
Her blood can close wounds, repair damaged flesh, and keep a person young. Dom says the world would tear her apart to possess it. Carmine believes him until she discovers that he has a family beyond the laboratory's locked doors.
If Dom came from somewhere, surely she did too.
After escaping to search for the family she believes was stolen from her, Carmine finds an unexpected home with Tula Vale, a sharp-tongued widow with a stubborn heart. She also meets Niko, a strange boy who seems just as unfamiliar with the outside world as she is.
Together, Carmine and Niko discover crowded streets, terrible diner food, movie theaters, laughter, and the terrifying freedom of making their own choices.
But Niko knows more about Carmine than he admits.
And Dom has never lost anything he considers his.
As Carmine's search leads her back toward the man she fled, she must decide whether love means being protected and needed or finally choosing herself.