Rafe is on the cusp of legally being an adult, which will finally allow him to pull himself and his sisters free of their mother's clutches. Unfortunately, freedom also entails breaking the law by way of starting his own business under a fake name, and playing a role he fears he'll never escape. When Rafe meets with one of his primary buyers, he is made an offer too good to refuse—and refuses it, not willing to take an offer that would hurt people relying on him and the goods he provides. The lost opportunity and the constant despair of the role he must play compels him to confess all to a beautiful, compassionate stranger at a ball. But the man he is so helplessly drawn to is instead captivated by Rafe's sister, and Rafe wonders if he'll always live his life trapped and watching everything he wants slip away…

After bidding farewell to his family and Trint, the man he's come to care for, Rafe heads out to sea, free to be himself for the first time in his life—free to learn himself, away from the constraints and trials of his mother, away from the terrible person he believed himself to be while forced to live with her. When Rafe returns home his family is waiting for him—but there's no sign of Trint. With a little push from his ward, Rafe decides to be bold and go after what he wants, though he fears in the end that all his efforts might still not be good enough to overcome the past and the secrets that have controlled so much of his life.