Cross, J: Barinov

Lex Barinov and Cade Whitmore finally have a face for the monster behind the screen. And now they know exactly what he wants. If they ever hope to get her back, they'll have to bleed for it.

@LucaWasHere

Twelve trials await, one hum per breath.

Each note a choice between love and death.

Twelve days between for her to see,

What life could be... if she stays with me.

Lex is dragged into a gauntlet of violence and control, stripped of everything but that raw fury that drives him toward her. Cade is ordered to turn grief into beauty. Each piece crafted with shaking hands and the memory of the girl they both love.

And while Lex's devotion is tested through blood and bone, and Cade is creating masterpieces out of nightmares... Bella Blackwood waits in the dark, held in the arms of a man who wants to rewrite her memories. Only to replace them with ones of a life she never lived.

Then there's her brother. Zeke Blackwood has been stuck inside that house for over eight hundred days. Broken. Branded. Forced to play along with a lie so twisted his own reality is cracking at the edges.

The rules of the game are simple: obey, perform, survive. But survival comes at a steep price, and no one walks away untouched.

After everything Luca puts them through...

Will Bella survive the fantasy he's building around her?

Will Zeke remember the boy who never stopped fighting?

Can Cade find a way to turn agony into art before it consumes him?

And how far will Lex go before devotion turns deadly?