The Optics of Ruin

Marc Delacroix has been New Orleans’ favorite scandal for ten years. Six foot three, green eyes, a drawl that takes its time, and a decade of headlines he never bothered to correct.

Nine days before he takes his company public, somebody puts a two-minute video of him on every screen in the city.

Ava Crawford is who you call when the truth is the only strategy left. She has one rule—she doesn’t lie for clients—and it has already cost her one job.

She walks in expecting a spoiled man in an expensive suit.

Instead, she gets a man who answers every question she asks, and some she doesn’t, and who looks at her like the rest of the room isn’t there.

But the video is only the beginning. The more Ava uncovers, the less this looks like an attempt to embarrass a wealthy man—and the more it looks like someone is determined to threaten everything Marc has built.

With the company’s future hanging in the balance, Ava must uncover who released the recording before whoever is behind it makes another move. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous the stakes become.

She was hired to protect his company.

Falling for the man behind it was never part of the assignment.

And somebody is still watching.