Inside the trailer.

My heart hammered against my ribs like it wanted to escape.


Wilson's words and touches replayed on loop in my mind.

"Riding me..."

"Special toy..."


"Hungry for more..."

No wonder every muscle in this body ached this morning.


I'd assumed it was from stunt work!

A sharp rap on the window, then the door swung open.

My brother-in-law Nate slid in, winking conspiratorially. "How'd it go, man? Wilson take the bait?"

Another bombshell. I struggled to keep my face neutral.

When I didn't answer, he nudged me. "No cameras here, dude. Drop the act. Wilson was singing your praises today—seems you... performed well."

He leaned closer, voice dropping. "I talked you up big time to Wilson for that endorsement. You remember our deal, right?"

Fighting back bile, I played dumb: "What deal?"

He stiffened, eyes flashing. "Marcus fucking Mitchell! Are you trying to weasel out?"

I quickly backpedaled, mimicking Marcus's casual drawl: "Just messing with you, man."

He studied me for a beat, then his lips curled into something predatory:

"Look, I get it. Hard to let go of Liv completely—you were married and all. But don't worry..."

He ran his tongue over his lips, eyes gleaming with something feral:

"She's my cousin. I'll be real gentle with her."

BOOM—

Like a thunderclap in my skull.

My blood turned to ice water.

Nathan Blackwood—lusting after me, his own cousin!

Nathan wasn't my blood cousin.

When his parents died and he landed on our doorstep, he was skin and bones. Everyone called him "the burden"—even family wouldn't go near him.

At a family reunion, I found him huddled in a corner, gnawing on a cold dinner roll. My heart broke. I begged Dad to pay for his schooling.

Dad renamed him "Nathan Blackwood"—a fresh start, a promise that he'd found his forever home.

He moved into our mansion, wore Armani, attended prep school—with me tutoring him every step of the way.

Dad sent him to Oxford, then fast-tracked him into the family business. We all thought he'd be the Lin family's right hand, lightening my burden.


I never once treated him like an outsider.

In my heart, he was my brother.