Things aren't what they seem. Don't get involved. Celisse is too headstrong to listen. Her best friend's boyfriend is dead, and she does not heed Cullen's warning, slipped to her in a note as he's being arrested for the murder. Cullen tries to keep Celisse out of danger and also tries to avoid her, both unsuccessfully. He can't deny his feelings for her anymore, but he knows he can't have her. If she ever discovered the truth about his past, she'd surely hate him. Struggling with her intense feelings for Cullen, Celisse uses her skills as an ex-prosecutor to investigate, all while continuing to fight for Ogden, the organizer of an underground fight ring. She eventually realizes things are connected: the ring, Ogden, Cullen, the murder—and herself. She races to uncover the truth before she's arrested or becomes the next victim—or perhaps, the next culprit.

Kindle fights to survive on her own, to break free from her possessive and violent ex-boyfriend, and tries not to let her best friend, Anna, know she's in love with her husband. Most of all, she fights the visions she sees of the past—she doesn't believe in that kind of stuff. Then Anna is shot and killed. In their grief, Kindle and Ty, Anna's husband and Kindle's Taekwondo instructor, grow closer. Although Kindle is careful never to let him too close, he helps her learn to accept that her visions are real. Eventually, the truth about Anna's death breaks through into Kindle's visions, and she must find a way not to let it destroy her.