In this page-turning novel from Candice Dow, a young woman’s innocence is lost—and lost again—until she finds her way home through a series of powerful events, and a shocking revelation…

The only kind of home beautiful seventeen-year-old Laila, abandoned at birth, knows is her group home in Miami, Florida. And the only escape she can think of is the money she secretly earns by stripping at a local nightclub. Sometimes she even works the crowd after her routine, to make extra cash. But the night she meets David DuBois, it seems her life is about to change for the better.

Young, attractive, and successful, David appears unfazed by Laila’s powers of seduction. But as they talk, he finds himself moved by her vulnerability—and intrigued by what they have in common: both were raised without mothers, David’s having died in childbirth. Soon, David finds himself falling for Laila, though he waits until her eighteenth birthday to act on his feelings—and move Laila into his home. At last, Laila feels loved and secure. But she quickly discovers she is far from safe. For the man she loves is also filled with rage.

Four years into their relationship, Laila can no longer take the beatings—or hide her scars, both physical and emotional. When she is offered a chance to start over in another city, she courageously takes it and finds herself not only facing a new future—but confronted with the truth of her past, and the mother she never knew. And that is just the beginning, as all of Laila’s relationships, old and new—and all her choices, good and bad—lead her home in a way she could never have imagined.

Candice Dow is a software engineer and graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Johns Hopkins University. She resides in Owings Mills, Maryland, but relishes weekend getaways to the beach. She is working on her third novel.