The Second Son (The House of Ashford)

Kennedy Quinn spent years learning how to look like she belonged in rooms that weren't built for her. Columbia Law. A record that could open any door. A composure she's spent her whole life perfecting.

It doesn't hold up around Clay Ashford.

He's General Counsel of the most powerful private equity firm in the city, second son of a dynasty built on quiet ruthlessness, and the man who keeps looking at her like she's a problem he wants to solve. She knows better than to want him back.

She does it anyway.

The clerkship at Ashford Group was supposed to be the beginning of everything she'd worked for. What no one told her is that the firm's newest acquisition has a connection to her past she's spent years trying to bury. The deal is more than business. It always was.

Clay sees it before she does. He also knows that getting close to her is the one thing his father will never forgive.

Harrison Ashford didn't build an empire by letting anyone stand between him and what he wants. And what he wants, Kennedy is about to discover, is everything - including leverage over his own son.

The closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous staying becomes. The deeper she falls for Clay, the clearer it is that he has been keeping secrets of his own.

When it finally falls apart, he will do the one thing that breaks her.

She will not forgive him.

She doesn't know yet that he's counting on it.