Secrets, power, obsession, and a criminal empire lurk beneath the gilded crown of Cardinia, and Valithia Mencini must continue to put on a performance as the perfect noblewoman. Even though she was never meant to be his wife. Never meant to be his prisoner. But when Valithia’s father’s debts came due, she was handed over as payment to Lord Damian Mencini—a ruthless, cunning banker. Through her dowry, Damian secured ownership over her father’s opera house…as well as a piece of the illicit activities running underneath it. Yet three months later, Valithia’s parents were murdered, driving a deeper wedge between her and her sister. Now trapped in a masquerade of a marriage, expected to give him an heir, Valithia struggles to endure her controlling husband. But she is not as powerless as she seems. Under a false identity, Valithia haunts the country for hire, hijacking memories straight from a person’s mind in order to escape this life. Her freedom from Damian hinges on one last job—find out how the esteemed opera composer rose to fame so quickly. What she discovers is far more sinister than she imagined. For she has inadvertently summoned a devil worse than Damian. And by the time the final curtain falls…that’s when the real show begins.