CRASHING INTO YOU

The rule was simple: watch her, protect her, don’t touch her.
Marshall North has spent his entire life being the boy no one chose.
His father sends money instead of showing up. His mother is gone. And the only place that ever felt like home was never really his—it belonged to someone else’s family, someone else’s name.

Iris Reed was part of that life.
Off-limits. Untouchable. A line he never crossed.
Until the day her brother leaves and puts her in his care.
Now she’s his responsibility.
And Marshall doesn’t do anything halfway.

The city is full of people who take advantage of girls like her—too curious, too fearless, too unaware of how quickly things can go wrong. He knows exactly how dangerous it can get, and he refuses to let her become another mistake he couldn’t prevent.
So he watches her.

Controls everything she does, everywhere she goes, everyone who gets too close.
Not because he wants to.
Because losing her isn’t an option.

But Iris doesn’t make it easy. She pushes, fights, and refuses to be handled, no matter how tightly he tries to keep her in place. She challenges him in ways no one else ever has, forcing cracks into the control he’s built his entire life on.
And the more she resists— the more he spirals.

Because Marshall has never been taught how to love without holding on too tight.
Never learned how to care without turning it into something consuming.
He doesn’t do soft.

And he doesn’t let go of the only thing that’s ever felt like it might stay.
So when the line between protection and possession finally shatters, there’s no going back.
Because Marshall doesn’t fall.
He crashes.
And this time, he’s taking her down with him.