Vows Beneath Black Water

When her father’s empire collapses under the weight of old debts and fresh blood, Seraphina Vale is traded into a marriage contract meant to save her family’s name. Her husband is Cassian Thorne, the reclusive heir to Blackwater House, a coastal dynasty whispered about in courtrooms, tabloids, and funeral parlors alike. He is cold, beautiful, and impossible to read—a man who wears cruelty like tailored silk and keeps half the city indebted to him. On their wedding night, Seraphina learns the truth: she was not chosen for peace, but for leverage. Someone in Blackwater House knows who she really is, and what was stolen from her mother before she died.

Trapped inside a mansion built on secrets, Seraphina is pulled into a war of inheritance, obsession, and revenge. Cassian says he married her to protect her, but every kindness comes sharpened with control, and every touch feels like a threat she wants to surrender to. As bodies surface in the marsh, family loyalties fracture, and a hidden identity begins to unravel, Seraphina must decide whether the monster at her side is her ruin—or the only man ruthless enough to help her burn the world that betrayed her.