Sin Sackey is driven by the same hardwired need as every eldest first-generation daughter—to make her family proud. And she built her career and chose her partners with that single goal as her north star.

Everyone said she had it all. And for more than twenty years, Sin let herself believe they were right. Until a near-death experience makes the truth impossible to deny. Her relationship is on life support. Her journalism career is in freefall. And the city she thought she'd conquer has chewed her up and spit her out.

With everything to prove—and everything to lose—Sin moves back home to Washington, DC. But on the eve of the first day of the rest of her new life, the saying about old habits proves painfully accurate.

A new lead falls into her lap, and Sin dives back into the story that nearly cost her everything. Then, when a man who is all the things she's sworn to avoid invites her to dinner, she says yes. But this story could resurrect her career—and take down an entire black-market empire. She's closer than ever to catching its elusive leader, and she can't let go now.

And this man could be the one. So, she lowers her walls just enough for him to climb over.

But just when it seems her gamble might pay off, her lead starts to feel more like a trap. And the man she's let herself love appears to be the one who set it.

Contains mature themes.