Stolen from the world, kept locked away in a tiny room for two whole years, I was shown the truth. I’m just a pawn.

Two years I spend watching through the lens of a TV as the world moves on. My dad finally gets what he always wanted: the mayor’s seat while everyone assumes the worst for me… but my kidnapper never lays a hand on me. He only helps open my eyes.

And then, one day, I escape.

But the life I return to isn’t the same. Along with his new responsibilities, my dad also has a new wife. I don’t belong anymore.

When a local crime queen named Lola thinks I might be connected to a different kidnapping, she gives me a bodyguard, Mike, to keep me safe in case my kidnapper tries to take me a second time. Big as a mountain, hardly ever speaking a word; I’d be lying if I say I’m not intrigued by him.

And then there’s Kieran, the bodyguard my dad puts on me. He’s my step-uncle now, and he’s just as infuriating as I remember—only now he acts a bit too protective over me. Jealous, some might even say.

That says nothing about Fang, a mysterious enigma with sharp silver for canines he’s all too willing to use on me. He makes it clear he wants more than a bite.

My name is Laina Hawkins, and I’m not the same girl I used to be. My kidnapper showed me the truth: only the power-hungry make a name for themselves in a city like this. It’s time I come into my own and show the world I’m more than a piece of eye candy.

* Eye Candy is the first book in A Bitter Pill, a why choose/RH trilogy that follows the events in the sixth book in the A Death so Sweet series.