I've protected senators, CEOs, and people who don't realize how dangerous their ambitions make them. I know how to read a room, spot a threat, and stay detached.

Alicia Morgan was never supposed to be a problem.

She's brilliant. Controlled. A crisis-management powerhouse who refuses to believe she needs protection—until a man turns up dead and the evidence points directly at her. When KOAN assigns me to her detail, the rules are simple: keep her safe, keep her daughter safe, and don't cross lines that can't be uncrossed.

Living in her house makes that last rule harder by the day.

Alicia isn't reckless—she's guarded. She doesn't share everything. And the more time I spend watching her navigate a murder she didn't commit, a custody battle, and a life held together by sheer force of will, the clearer it becomes that the real risk isn't external. It's personal. It's emotional. It's the secrets people protect because they think they're harmless.

She trusts me to secure her home. She doesn't trust me with the truth.

The closer we get, the more I start to see what she's built—and what she's terrified to lose. A daughter who watches everything. A reputation that can shatter with one wrong headline. A strength that hides exhaustion I know too well.

I've spent my life staying one step removed. But Alicia makes distance impossible.

Because when the threat isn't obvious—when it wears familiar faces and hides behind routine—you don't just guard the perimeter. You guard the people you're falling for.

And sometimes, the most dangerous thing isn't the enemy watching from the shadows. It's what you're willing to risk when you finally stop pretending you don't care.

ONLY THE LUCKY is the fourth standalone novel in the Sinful State series, where protection turns personal, secrets cut deeper than any weapon, and jealousy proves just as deadly as a bullet.