I was reserving judgment on the first book in this pair until I read this second one, but what I was hoping could redeem the story just didn’t happen. I have no problem with a possessive H. But this motherfucker stole the h’s money, put trackers on everything she owned, had someone shoot at her and her traumatized little sister, made it so one would hire her, put surveillance cameras all over the house (and we’re supposed to think he’s a saint because he didn’t put them on the 15-year-old sister’s floor, but pretty sure she spends a lot of time in the rest of the house and could have walked around naked for all he fuckin knew, and after growing up with a stepfather who molested and abused her, no thought is given to how she might feel knowing she’s being watched by her adult sister’s adult boyfriend) and lied about absolutely everything. I could have dealt with ALL of that if there had been ANY sense of guilt or remorse. Our h finds out and is devastated that she was lied to and manipulated, and the H never once apologizes. He tells her none of it matters because he did it out of love. And she’s mad at him for a few days and then forgives him because one of his mafia buddies comes and tells her she’s not as tough as he thought she was because she has a problem with this?? Nope. Like I said, I can get behind a dark, possessive H. What I can’t get behind is a relationship where only one person has to continually change and compromise their beliefs, their safely, their sense of trust, and the other doesn’t change a bit. If Storm had recognized that he crossed the line, if he actually listened to Briar about how betrayed she felt and made ANY ATTEMPT AT ALL to see things from her point of view, I could have been down with it. But the last scene tells us that even after all that, he has cameras in the bedroom that he hasn’t told her about. Oh, but she knows about them anyway and gets herself off while he watches and it’s ok? I can suspend disbelief if the characters I’m reading are ok with what’s happening—I don’t have to be ok with it because it’s not my story. If she found out all this and was like wow that’s hot, he really wants me, then cool. But she was devastated, and he never once apologized or tries to see things from her POV or changes his behavior in any way, and she is gaslit into believing that the only way she can have him is to put up with shit she is clearly not comfortable with. So nope. Not cool. 2 stars for this and for the previous book, where the H also physically, verbally, and emotionally demeans the h until the last 20 pages and once he finds out his assumptions were wrong, feels not an ounce of guilt or regret for his actions. Nope nope nope.