What if the life meant to protect you was the one thing holding you prisoner? Ariella Mayla isn't just trapped behind walls-she's imprisoned by her own body. At eighteen, a rare condition makes human contact deadly, her life dictated by pills, rules, and the protection of her bodyguard, Jonah. For as long as she can remember, she's been safe. But suffocating.
When Jonah surprises her with a birthday trip to a luxury Hawaiian resort-her first glimpse of the outside world-Ariella dares to dream of freedom. Then she meets Zain Nazar, the resort's enigmatic owner... and Jonah's estranged older brother. Smug, reckless, and maddeningly charming, Zain is the last person she should trust. Yet he's also the first person to show her a life beyond her cage.
Zain doesn't just break her rules-he shatters them, pushing her to question the pills she takes, the stories she's believed, and the world she's been forced to accept. When Ariella stumbles upon her late grandmother's diary, she unravels the secrets Jonah has buried-truths that make her question everything she thought she knew about her condition, her family, and herself.
As Ariella edges closer to freedom, she faces a devastating choice: stay in her carefully constructed life of safety or risk everything for a world that feels both dangerous and alive. And when Zain becomes her partner in uncovering the truth, she realizes the greatest risk of all isn't fighting for her life-it's letting herself fall for someone who could destroy it.
After a summer that changed everything, Lark and Sophie find themselves on opposite sides of a fragile friendship. Torn between loyalty to her boyfriend Liam and the undeniable spark with his sister, Sophie is drowning in secrets.