The Edge of Desire

Ivy Blake never believed in love at first sight—until Cole Hart walked into her gallery. Brilliant, relentless, and dangerously charming, Cole is the kind of defense attorney who wins cases by reading people like open books. With Ivy, he promises devotion. With everyone else, he demands control.

At first, the possessiveness feels like passion. Then come the little cuts: a “lost” email that tanks a career-making show, surprise appearances outside her studio at 2 a.m., subtle corrections of her memory that leave her dizzy. When Ivy tries to pull away, Cole tightens the net with apologies, gifts…and threats she can’t quite prove.

Meanwhile, Cole takes on the case of the decade: the “Night Swan,” a serial killer accused of staging victims as living art. The city wants blood. Cole wants a win. And Ivy—an artist obsessed with light and shadow—starts seeing the case everywhere she turns: in Cole’s language, in his meticulous routines, in the photos that mysteriously land in her inbox.

As evidence curls back toward the man sharing her bed, Ivy faces an impossible choice: expose the truth and paint a target on her own back, or accept the perfect portrait Cole has framed for her—one where she never leaves.

Love is a gallery of illusions. Some frames are made to trap you.