Once upon a time, I was an 18-year-old psychology student. Now, I'm a man's property. Stolen and sold, I've been decorated in bruises since the day my world changed two years ago. I suffer in silence, I crave freedom, but I never break. I can't. Until he arrives. Elder Prest, the only man to look at me and see me. The only man more ruthless than my owner. He wants me for reasons I don't understand. He claims me for one night then leaves and never looks back. Until he returns. And life becomes much more complicated.

The night of my birthday looked as boring as the rest of my life. Sitting on my own, trying to avoid my insanely gorgeous but horribly mean flatmate, all while waiting for him to leave so I could have a party for one…if you know what I mean. But that was before I almost crashed on the way home, when a big top rolled into town. Before I locked eyes with the hottest guy I’d ever seen swinging a sledgehammer in the rain. Before I read the flyer promoting the once-in-a-lifetime circus. A circus that wasn’t the usual garish carnival…oh, no…this one was most definitely not for children.

From New York Times best seller Pepper Winters comes one of her best tales yet... "What do you do when you meet your soul mate? No wait...that's too easy. What do you do when you meet your soul mate and have to spend a lifetime loving him in secret? I'll tell you what you do. You lie." Ren was eight when he learned that love doesn't exist - that the one person who was supposed to adore him only cared how much he was worth. His mother sold him and for two years, he lived in terror. But then...he ran.

“Must be slim, able to stand for long periods of time, and be impervious to the cold.” The headline caught my attention. “Hours are negotiable, pay is minimal, clothing absolutely forbidden.” The second line piqued my curiosity. “Able to hold your bladder and tongue, refrain from opinions or suggestions, and be the perfect living canvas.” The third made me scowl. I should’ve kept scrolling past the advertisement. I should’ve applied for the boring receptionist job at minimum wage. I should’ve clicked on any other job where I got to keep my clothes on. But I didn’t.

Noelle Charlston lives a fairy-tale life: a doting father, a powerful job, and a future blessed with financial security. However, two meetings with two men changes her happy existence forever. First, she meets the man who makes her heart sing. Three years later, she meets the man who makes her blood quiver. Broken-hearted from a teenage romance, Noelle's freedom is no longer hers. It belongs to the stranger her father believes is her perfect match. The stranger who pulls his lies over everyone he touches.

Working as Ruslan Oryolov’s personal assistant is the job from hell. After a long day spent tending to the billionaire’s every whim, I need some stress relief. So when I get home that night, that’s exactly what I do. Problem is, my thoughts are still stuck on the bosshole, who’s ruining my life. That’s fine—because of all Ruslan’s many sins, being gorgeous might be the most dangerous.

They begin as rescued and rescuer, slowly growing from 12 and 16. He’s not allowed to touch her. She’s convinced he is the one. But as each day dawns on his illegal existence, Aslans’s secrets creep ever closer, the death he ran from hunts ever faster, and the darkness that he can’t get free of finally finds him. And it costs him everything.

When you've been told your whole life that something is sinful, you have two options. Avoid it like the plague, like it has the power to destroy all that is good and pure. Or become as fixated upon it as Eve was upon that apple. I'm sick of the push-pull of terror and temptation. It's tearing me apart. I just want a bite of the apple. More than a bite. I want to devour it. Have its juices spill from my lips. And by apple, I, of course, mean sex.

I hate Dante Moretti. He is cold, calculating, and vicious. It’s no secret that he wiped out his former fiancée and her entire family on the eve of their wedding. He’s the kind of evil that makes even devils cry. But that’s not why I hate him.

When I tried to leave, Grave forced me to stay. He's obsessed with me, and not in the good kind of way. Griffin is out of the game, but he gives me a piece of information that can set me free. I travel to Cap-Ferrat, in the south of France, and find this powerful man. But he's not the least bit interested in helping me. Not for free, at least. If I want his protection, I'll have to make it worth his while.

Lila James is my best friend’s little sister, and I’ve always looked out for her. She's five years younger than me, and when she left for college, she was just a kid. But now she’s home for the summer—and she’s definitely not a kid anymore.

I owe him a debt. A big one. The payment can't be settled with money or favors. He only wants one thing. Me. Every action gets a reward. A button. Once I fill his jar with 365 buttons, he'll let me go. He'll let me walk away. But I have to earn every single one. By submitting to the darkest, cruelest, and most beautiful man I've ever known.

They say there are three things you should do at least once in your life: Dance like nobody’s watching. Travel the world. And fall hopelessly in love. I aimed to do all three. I went to Italy to find myself. But he found me.

Running away from home at 17 wasn't easy. Let's face it, though, nothing before or in the ten years since has ever been easy for me. And I'm doing okay—sorta. I just need to keep scraping by, living under the radar. Staying out of people's way, off people's minds. When a man walks through my open patio door, stepping boldly into my home and my life, I should be scared, frightened, terrified. I must be more broken than I realized because I'm none of those things. I'm intrigued—and I'm wondering if the way to take control of my life is by giving in to him.

I’m out for revenge. He’s out to rule the world. Kirill and I are as different as day and night. We shouldn’t have been in the same frame or universe. But we meet under the strangest circumstances. He’s my superior in the military and the man who’ll introduce me to carnage.