Prologue

"Ethan, please!" Lily's voice was a desperate whisper in the darkness, her body tense with fear and resistance.

His response was a cold, unyielding grip. "You're mine, Lily. Accept it."

From their first encounter, it was a whirlwind of forceful passion and unspoken desire. Ethan, a man of power and mystery, had claimed Lily as his own, dragging her into a world of opulence and darkness. For thirty days, she was trapped in his lavish prison, subjected to his relentless pursuit of possession.

"I'll give you the world," he promised, his voice a seductive whisper in her ear, "but you must give me you."

Lily, once a free spirit, now found herself ensnared in a web of Ethan's making. His love was a cage, gilded and luxurious, yet a prison all the same. But as the days turned to nights, and the nights to dawns, something shifted within the cold recesses of Ethan's heart.

"I would burn it all for you," he confessed, his eyes reflecting a flame of devotion that threatened to consume him.

In the heart of this tempestuous romance, two souls clashed, bound by a love that was as fierce as it was forbidden. It was a story of surrender and defiance, of a man who would move heaven and earth for the woman he loved, and a woman who would fight to the death to hold onto her autonomy.

As the sun broke over the horizon, casting its light on their entwined fates, the question lingered: Could love truly conquer all, or would their passionate beginning lead only to ashes and regret?