Sebastian has never needed Amanda Claridge to make him look dangerous.

At six-foot-five, heavily built and scarred enough to make strangers reconsider staring, he became Monster almost by accident. At The Labyrinth, women choose him because they want the illusion of losing control to a man they couldn’t possibly overpower, while Sebastian’s reputation rests on the one thing his appearance never suggests: behind every frightening fantasy is a man with extraordinary control.

Sophie Laurent isn’t what he expects. Beautiful, wealthy and raised inside a world where every choice has already been made for her, she arrives at The Labyrinth asking for the kind of experience most women would never admit to wanting. Sebastian expects fear. Instead, she gives him curiosity, laughter and an infuriating habit of looking directly at the man everyone else sees as a monster.

One weekend should have been enough. Then Sophie comes back, and the carefully negotiated fantasy begins following them beyond the doors where it belongs. When the people who have controlled Sophie’s life discover exactly who she has chosen to spend it with, Sebastian becomes an easy villain in a story they are more than powerful enough to tell for her.

Sophie came to The Labyrinth because she wanted to know what it felt like to surrender control. She never expected to find the first man who would have to learn not to take her choices away.

Releases October 27, 2026