Loss. Guilt. Grief. Do you ever truly recover from it? How can you be happy when the person you once looked up to is gone? Sheltered. Ruled. Shamed. Do you ever grow after that? How can you break free from a lifetime of repression? Vivienne and Asher have been through a lot in their young lives. Can they use each other to heal and to find their true selves? They’re about to discover whether they can liberate each other or if their love is only more constricting.

Callum Griffin is the heir to the Irish mafia. He’s ruthless, arrogant, and he wants to kill me. We got off on the wrong foot when I set a (very small) fire in his house. Our families believe a marriage pact is the only thing that will prevent all-out warfare. I think I might need to murder him while he sleeps. This would all be a lot easier if Callum wasn’t so damned good-looking.

I can feel it. I wake up in the middle of the night freaked out of my mind, paranoid a stranger is there. My skin prickles every time I leave my house, because I know someone is following me. I’m afraid. Alone. And there’s only one person left to turn to. The stepbrother I never met. He’s the president of a notorious motorcycle club and exactly the kind of person I need to protect me - cutthroat, cocky, dangerous. Little did I know, hot as all holy hell Ky Parish, downright loathes me. You know what they say - there's a fine line between love and hate. And I'm walking it.

The quintessential question asked to every couple. And the answer is usually some bubbly, lovey dovey tale of being struck in the bum by Cupid’s arrow. My meet cute (well, not so meet cute) is slightly different. I was trolling a wealthy neighborhood in Beverly Hills, searching for someone to take me as their bride, you know, to make my arch nemesis jealous who consequently just fired me. 

Rhys: I’m an addict. I’ve been abused, and I’ve been the abuser. My entire life has been a blur, filled with misery and anguish. I’m trying my best to stay clean and lucid even when my world feels dark. Now, I have to stay away from the woman who makes everything murky and complicated. Blair: I’ve always been a toy for others to use. A spoiled, broken girl who’s never been seen because no one ever tried. He sees me though. Holding up a mirror and showing me exactly who I am with absolute clarity. Is that a good thing? I’m not sure.

Suzy's a control freak and has her life mapped out - work hard, find a man with a stable job, and live happily ever after. She's content with the status quo, but her plan comes to a screeching halt when he enters her life and turns it upside down. City gave up on love when his heart was crushed in college, preferring to be the typical bachelor. He spends his nights hopping from one bed to another and his days working at his family tattoo shop, Inked. 

I see her differently now: my friend, Michelle Douglas. It's the summer of 1994, where the love of the '80s still holds on for dear life. She's wearing a black ACDC shirt that hangs over the shoulder, and she is hanging out with a group of friends. I don't know what it is about her right now, but in this moment, everything has changed for me. Everything about her calls out to me. I think it always has. It always will. Her love isn't easy to get, but I'm determined to get it. There's one problem. She's promised to another.

Could you love a man surrounded by danger? Gigi Gallo’s childhood was filled with the roar of a motorcycle and the hum of a tattoo gun. Fresh out of college, she’s about to start working at her family’s tattoo studio - Inked. But when she shows up the first day, she never expects to run into someone tall, dark, and totally sexy from her not-so-innocent past. 

I’ve always wanted the fairy tale wedding. Not for the princess perfect dress or big party, but for papa. My grandfather. The only father figure I’ve ever known. It’s his dying wish to walk me down the aisle. Gee, no pressure. But I can grant that wish. I just have to fake being head over heels in love with Ross Andrews, my best friend's big brother whom I embarrassingly crushed on all through high school. Handsome. Knockout sexy. Arrogant jerk extraordinaire. Our childish pranks and tit-for-tat battles were legendary.

Virginia Constance Kramer is a good girl. Until she meets the man that makes her want to be bad.... He’s got a record; she’s never been so much as grounded. His old man is a convict; her dad is the police sergeant. He’s seen too much darkness; she can barely see out of the stained-glass curtain the world wants her to hide behind. She’s willing to fight her parents, the town, and the whole world if she has to, but first she has to get past the wall Joe Franklin has built around his heart. He thinks she’s too good, too sweet, too pure for a man like him.

She made a big mistake. You don’t blackmail a Tacone. Coming to me with a threat? Unacceptable. If she needs money, she’ll have to ask nicely. But once I give it to her, we both know what it means: She belongs to me. I do my best to hold back. Give her respect. Trouble is, I can’t keep my hands off her.

No money, no phone, and abandoned on the streets of Chicago. With my baby in my arms, I wander into a bar in a shady neighborhood and ask to use their phone. When my father turns us away and completely disowns me, the bar owner, and total hottie, offers us a place to stay...no strings attached. I'm leery at first. Hot alpha guy. Down on her luck single mother. I mean, who wouldn't be? Lucio Gallo isn't like most men, though. He's fiercely protective, loyal, and did I mention he's covered in nothing but muscle? 

Because they were sent there to kill her. Not fall for her. Not feel sorry for her. Not want to take care of her, or protect her, or be in to her. But sometimes, people enter your life for a reason. Sometimes, they even enter at the very moment you need them most. And Yvette Nightingale needs AJ and Logan. She needs them even more than they need her.

At 35, Gina Bourque is still playing the field. If he’s single, in his early 20s with dark hair and brooding eyes, there’s a damn good chance you’ll find him in her little black book. Jeffrey Ryan never imagined that at nearly 40 he’d find himself widowed and a single dad. But here he is - stumbling through this thing called life with two impressionable daughters watching his every move. 

We were friends, she and I. Best friends. It was easy, simple, and comfortable; that was our dynamic. We had a system, an understanding, an unspoken arrangement. We were there for each other through thick and thin. We had an unbreakable bond. Nobody understood our friendship. Because a guy and a girl couldn’t just be best friends without emotions getting involved, right? Without noticing, everything shifted, and I was experiencing all these new feelings....