Levi Mercer escaped one nightmare only to wake up in another. The sanitarium was supposed to be the end—freedom from Virtual Vice's twisted game, but dying over and over again is no longer the worst part of being trapped in a digital hellscape. The worst part is watching his former killer pretend they're not trapped at all.
To Asher, every nightmare scenario is home as long as they're together. Every death is just another day in paradise. The outside world? A fever dream. Freedom? A myth. Reality? Whatever keeps Levi by his side.
But paradise has rules, and Asher enforces them with increasing brutality. No escape attempts. No talk of the "real world." No questioning their perfect digital love story. Break the rules, and Asher will hurt anyone—including Levi—as a reminder that some cages are built to protect what's inside from what's outside.
Each scenario brings new horrors, but the real monster isn't the alien creature hunting them on a spaceship or the shadows in the fog of a mountain retreat. It's the man who loves Levi so much he'd rather break him than lose him.
The games are getting harder. The stakes are getting higher. And Levi needs to convince the man who learned to love him in hell that paradise isn't worth staying damned.
Gale writes the kind of mm dark/gray romance that makes you question your life choices in the best possible way. When not crafting morally questionable characters doing questionable things, she can be found buried in a book, rolling dice in yet another D&D campaign, or frantically crocheting while binge-watching whatever series has stolen her soul.
She is a gaming enthusiast, horror movie aficionado, and BL manhwa collector who believes the best stories live in those deliciously gray areas. Between wrangling her four kids and making elaborate to-do lists (that will definitely be ignored), she is always down to geek out over a good book rec or debate which problematic character deserves more love.