Runaway

No one in Chicago knew exactly who controlled the city’s darkest corners. There were whispers, of course. Stories about powerful men who moved money, weapons, secrets, and people through ordinary warehouses and freight yards while the rest of the city slept. Men who wore expensive suits in daylight and became something far more dangerous after dark. Most people knew enough not to ask questions. Tessa Vale had never heard any of those stories. For most of her life, she had been hidden from the world. Raised far from the city under a name that was never truly hers, Tessa was taught that the outside world was corrupt, dangerous, and waiting to destroy her. She learned to obey. To stay quiet. To never question the man who claimed everything he did was meant to protect her. Then she discovered the truth. Her life had been built on lies. Her identity. Her family. Even the mother she had spent years believing was gone. So Tessa did the one thing she had been warned never to do. She ran. Chicago was supposed to be her chance at freedom. Instead, it led her straight to Adrian Cross. Adrian was the kind of man people avoided without needing to know why. Cold. Controlled. Ruthless. He made problems disappear for men powerful enough to own entire pieces of the city, and he had survived by following one simple rule: never become emotionally attached to anyone who could be used against him. Then Tessa walked into his world carrying secrets connected to a past he had spent years trying to bury. She was innocent where he was hardened. Hopeful where he had become cynical. And far too trusting for a world filled with men who would destroy her just to get what she unknowingly possessed.Adrian should have handed her over. He should have walked away. Instead, he protected her. And every day…