Countdown

She inherited a failing speakeasy. The vampire in its cellar was not in the will.

An event planner returns home expecting a funeral, a week of paperwork, and a flight back to Chicago. Instead, her grandmother leaves her a crumbling ballroom , thirty-two days until foreclosure , and a mysterious tenant paying one dollar a year under a lease written to last forever.

His face has not changed in fifty years of photographs. The truth is even older.

For decades, the centuries-old mask-maker has guarded the speakeasy and the supernatural sanctuary hidden beneath it. Now the covenant protecting them both will expire at midnight on New Year's Eve -and only the final heir can renew it.

The choice must be informed. It must be willing. And after a lifetime of other people deciding what she can handle, she refuses to bind her future to secrets.

Her only chance to save the venue is to resurrect its legendary New Year's Eve masquerade . But as they restore the ballroom night after night, guarded conversations become midnight confessions, attraction grows impossible to ignore, and a ruthless vampire from his past begins circling the power buried below.

One last masquerade. One ancient covenant. One immortal man who has forgotten how to hope.

When the final countdown begins, she must decide whether to walk away from everything she inherited-or freely choose the home, the hidden world, and the vampire she never expected to love.

Step into the ballroom, put on your mask, and stay until midnight.