Kept

KEPT
A Dark Stepbrother Romance
by Ardis Thorne

Some people survive what breaks them.
Others become something worse.

Ashton never expected to be wanted.

Not like this.
Not by him.

Laith doesn’t love gently. He doesn’t offer comfort or safety or anything that resembles mercy. What he offers is control—unyielding, absolute, and impossible to escape. The kind that strips away choice until there’s nothing left but obedience.

And Ashton takes it.

Because what Laith gives him is certainty.

In a world that has taken everything from him—his family, his safety, his sense of control—Laith is the only constant that remains. The only thing that feels real.

But control comes with a cost.

When violence bleeds into every corner of their lives and the past refuses to stay buried, Ashton is forced to confront a truth he’s been avoiding from the

Laith isn’t protecting him.

He’s keeping him.

This is not a story about healing.
This is not a story about redemption.

This is a story about obsession, control, and the thin line between devotion and destruction.

Content
This book contains explicit material and dark themes, including violence, kidnapping, coercion, power imbalance, non-consensual and dubious-consent situations, and psychological trauma. Intended for mature readers only.