Angry God (all Saints High, #3)

The third installment in L.J. Shen's All Saints series, this contemporary romance follows the enemies-to-lovers arc of Vaughn Spencer, a wealthy and emotionally guarded teenage sculptor, and Lenora Astalis, the daughter of a celebrated artist, as their volatile relationship unfolds across years, continents, and dark secrets.

The story opens with a flashback. Twelve-year-old Lenora attends Carlisle Prep, a prestigious art school founded by her father, Edgar Astalis, and housed in a seventeenth-century castle in Berkshire, England. One night, she accidentally enters the darkroom and finds thirteen-year-old Vaughn Spencer, an American prodigy, in a compromising situation. She flees in a panic. Vaughn follows and threatens her, calling her "Good Girl," a nickname from an earlier encounter during a family vacation. He warns her to keep what she saw secret. Shortly after, Lenora's mother dies of cardiac arrest. The loss transforms her; she resolves to grow stronger rather than break. Years later, Edgar insists Lenora spend her senior year in Todos Santos, California, where he has relocated with Lenora's older sister, Poppy.

At All Saints High, Vaughn views himself as wired for destruction, unable to feel normal emotions. His best friend and cousin, Knight Cole, warns him that both Astalis sisters are off-limits, but Vaughn privately resolves to torment Lenora. He breaks into her house and confronts her, and she declares him "utterly forgettable." He reveals they are both competing for a coveted internship at Carlisle Prep.

Lenora's semester is miserable. Her defiance of Arabella Garofalo and Alice Hamlin, the school's social gatekeepers, makes her a target, and Vaughn publicly humiliates her. After a charged confrontation in a janitor's closet, Vaughn declares her his "property," and they share a violent first kiss. He ensures every boy at school knows she is off-limits, isolating her completely. He also deepens his bond with Edgar by visiting daily to collaborate on a sculpture. When Vaughn wins the internship, Lenora is devastated but reluctantly accepts the assistant role.

Weeks later, Lenora finds Vaughn bleeding in her bathtub from a stab wound. She stitches his wound with green thread so the scar will remind him of her. He calls her beauty a "slow burn," and they kiss passionately. At a pool party, Lenora rescues Poppy after Soren, one of Arabella's allies, holds Poppy underwater to pressure her into revealing Vaughn's secret. On the last day of school, Arabella challenges Vaughn to prove he has no feelings for Lenora by letting Arabella perform oral sex on him publicly. He agrees, locking eyes with Lenora throughout. She watches in silent devastation. At Poppy's goodbye party, a fire traps Lenora in the attic. Vaughn climbs the roof and catches her when she jumps. Their parting is bitter.

Back at Carlisle Castle, Lenora removes her goth disguise, returning to her natural blond hair. Her childhood best friend, Rafferty Pope, arrives as the second intern. On the night of Vaughn's arrival, he breaks into her room. She fights back with a pocket knife; they kiss intensely. They negotiate an arrangement: They can be physical, but Vaughn refuses to perform oral sex or otherwise satisfy her, claiming other people's pleasure turns him off. Lenora stipulates that he cannot receive oral sex from other girls.

Vaughn isolates himself in the cellar, working on his sculpture behind locked doors. Meanwhile, Harry Fairhurst, Lenora's uncle, reveals he has framed Vaughn's mother, Emilia Spencer, as a drug smuggler and threatens to send fabricated evidence to the FBI. Vaughn secures his eight-figure trust fund and uses it to purchase all 193 of Harry's paintings worldwide, planning to destroy them. He also sends Lenora daily deliveries of chocolate and coffee, though she believes the gifts come from Poppy.

On Lenora's eighteenth birthday, Arabella claims she is sleeping with Edgar and that Vaughn knew. Devastated, Lenora gets dangerously drunk and declares their arrangement over. Vaughn executes his retaliation against Harry: He deletes the fabricated evidence from Harry's devices, has Knight burn all 193 paintings in a California bonfire, and breaks Harry's painting hand, leaving him unable to work.

Pope observes that Lenora's assemblage, a sculpture built from found objects, is unmistakably a likeness of Vaughn. Horrified, she destroys most of it, but Pope saves the resilient metal face. When Vaughn returns, Lenora handcuffs him to her bed and has Pope perform oral sex on her while Vaughn watches, as payback for the public display with Arabella. Afterward, Vaughn admits his feelings are spreading through him uncontrollably. They renegotiate, and Lenora declares this their true first kiss.

Their relationship deepens. They lose their virginity to each other, and Vaughn performs oral sex on Lenora for the first time, overcoming the barrier that defined their arrangement. When Poppy reveals she never sent the daily sweets, Lenora realizes Vaughn has been the sender all along. Rushing to thank him, she overhears a conversation between Vaughn and Harry that reveals the full truth: What she witnessed in the darkroom was Harry sexually abusing Vaughn.

Vaughn tells Lenora everything, recounting three incidents of abuse by Harry spanning from age 8 to 13. He explains that every public sexual encounter he sought afterward was an attempt to reclaim control over his sexuality, and that Lenora was the only person he imagined during those moments. He tells Lenora he plans to kill Harry. She asks him not to; he says he must. They make love with a sense of finality.

Vaughn confronts Edgar and learns the truth: Edgar had an affair not with Arabella but with Arabella's mother. Arabella came to Carlisle seeking revenge, and Edgar has been absorbing her harassment to shield his daughters. Vaughn reveals he manipulated the internship by promising Edgar he would court Lenora, and instructs Edgar to give the exhibition spot at the Tate Modern, a major London museum, to Lenora instead.

Baron Spencer, Vaughn's father, arrives at Carlisle, having deduced the truth about Harry, and insists on handling the situation himself. Vaughn confronts Harry but cannot bring himself to kill. Baron arrives, orders Vaughn to leave, and stages Harry's death as a suicide. Emilia independently discovers the truth and flies to England in anguish.

Lenora plasters posters of Harry's face throughout the castle with the caption "Rip me if I hurt you." By morning, many are torn or defaced, confirming widespread abuse. Students come forward. Edgar confirms the truth about Arabella and reveals that Vaughn withdrew from the exhibition, nominating Lenora's sculpture for the Tate Modern.

Vaughn departs, leaving a love letter confessing that the internship was always rightfully hers and declaring his love. News breaks that Harry has been found dead, ruled a suicide. Lenora's restored assemblage, titled "Angry God," dominates her exhibition at the Tate Modern. Emilia attends and offers Lenora a position at her Los Angeles gallery.

Lenora returns home to find Vaughn beside a massive marble sculpture titled "Good Girl," depicting them as children with their lower bodies merged as though inseparable. He tells her he chose not to kill Harry because he would rather have the girl than have revenge. They reconcile.

In two epilogues, Vaughn proposes with a ring crafted from diamonds from Lenora's mother's engagement ring. They settle in a beach house in Todos Santos. One year later, they learn Lenora is carrying twins. When she asks if he is scared, Vaughn replies that with her by his side, he never is.