Burning Daylight

This contemporary romance is set in the fictional town of Rosebrook Falls, Connecticut, a community founded in 1930 by two families who signed the WayMont Compact Agreement to split power and resources equally. Generations later, the Calloways and Montgomerys are locked in a bitter feud, and loyalty to one's family name is treated as an unbreakable law.

The story opens with a prologue set when Juliette Calloway is thirteen. Hiding in her family's estate, she overhears her father, Craig Calloway, pressuring Marcus Montgomery to sign papers that would dissolve aspects of the WayMont agreement. Marcus refuses. Craig makes a veiled threat against Marcus's family, referencing a child who bears the Montgomery name. Two days later, a news broadcast reports that an artist named Heather Argent and her two children died in a car crash in Montgomery territory. When Juliette looks at her father, he is smiling.

Four years later, seventeen-year-old Juliette is searching for her missing brother Lance when she hikes to Upside Down Rock, a secluded cliff in Verona County Park. She slips from a boulder at the edge, and a stranger grabs her arm, saving her life. He is a young man with dark hair, icy blue eyes, and tattoos. They banter and flirt, but he refuses to give his name. She calls him "Trouble"; he calls her "Princess" (21). She leaves without learning who he is and does not see him again.

Another four years pass. Juliette, now twenty-one and finishing college in California, attends an art show with her best friend and roommate, Felicity Rimini. The anonymous street artist, known only by the tag "RMO," displays spray-paint murals of striking emotional depth. Juliette encounters her stranger from the cliff. Their chemistry is immediate and overpowering, and he begins calling her "Little Rose." She learns his first name is Ry but nothing more.

The narrative then shifts to Roman's perspective. Roman, twenty-three, is the secret son of Marcus Montgomery, living under the alias Ryder Speare in California. His mother, Heather Argent, was once a vibrant artist who developed an opioid addiction after the car crash that Craig Calloway allegedly engineered when Roman was fifteen. Marcus faked the deaths of Roman, Heather, and Roman's half-sister Brooklynn to protect them, giving them new identities. Roman has spent years financially supporting his mother and paying for Brooklynn's expensive seizure medication on his meager artist's income, while Marcus has remained absent from their lives.

Juliette visits Roman's small apartment, where he sketches her. The session grows intimate before his mother's arrival interrupts them. He gives Juliette the alias "Ryder" but withholds his real name. After Juliette leaves, his mother identifies her as a Calloway and pressures Roman to contact Marcus for money, even withholding Brooklynn's medication as leverage. Roman reluctantly calls his father, who agrees to help on one condition: Roman must move to Rosebrook Falls permanently.

Meanwhile, Juliette's eldest brother, Paxton Calloway, orders her home before graduation for a political fundraiser. She and Roman share one final meeting at a coffee shop, where he gives her the finished sketch. Back in Rosebrook Falls, her mother, Martha Calloway, pushes her toward her ex-boyfriend Preston Ascott, the governor's son. At the fundraiser, Juliette's cousin Tyler Bault greets her, revealing a deep hatred of the Montgomerys whom he blames for his parents' deaths.

Roman arrives at Montgomery Manor and meets his father's inner circle: Benjamin Voltaire, Marcus's nephew by marriage; the charismatic Merrick Carter; and Rosalie Bault, Benjamin's girlfriend and Juliette's estranged cousin. Marcus reveals he has terminal cancer and wants Roman to inherit his legacy. His lawyer, Frederick Lawrence, who serves both families, presents trusts for Roman and Brooklynn. A critical forfeiture clause stipulates that if Roman leaves Rosebrook Falls, his entire inheritance reverts to Frederick.

At the Calloway fundraiser, Roman arrives with the Montgomery group and steps out of the shadows. Craig recognizes him instantly: "Roman Montgomery. You're alive" (178). Juliette is devastated as she realizes the man she has been intimate with is the son of her family's greatest rival. Roman later explains he did not know her identity at first and only learned it from his mother after their encounter in California, but the betrayal still cuts deep.

That night, Roman climbs the lattice to Juliette's balcony, and they agree to meet in secret at Upside Down Rock. Over the following weeks, they develop a routine of clandestine encounters at the cliff, growing closer as she writes and he sketches. Marcus tasks Roman with anonymously painting murals around town exposing Calloway corruption: bribery of politicians, predatory lending in the HillPoint, the neglected neighborhood on Montgomery territory, and shell companies circumventing the WayMont agreement. The murals spark protests and media scrutiny that torment Juliette, torn between her love for Roman and loyalty to her family.

Frederick intervenes after obtaining compromising photos of the couple, warning Roman to stay away from Juliette. Their relationship deepens further as Roman reveals his mother's full story and Juliette begins to see her family's complicity in the feud's violence. At Upside Down Rock, they confess their love for each other. Roman proposes they run away together after the Verona University (VU) Founders' Gala, forfeiting his inheritance so Craig would have no reason to target him.

The plan collapses when Roman discovers the truth. Visiting his dying father, he learns that Frederick engineered Roman's return to Rosebrook Falls, pushing Marcus to summon him so the forfeiture clause would eventually transfer the Montgomery fortune to Frederick. Marcus did not review the fine print of Brooklynn's trust, meaning her financial security could also be compromised. Roman cannot leave without risking everything for his sister.

At the Founders' Gala, Juliette publicly defies her mother, declaring she will pursue writing and refusing to marry Preston. Paxton backs her for the first time. Outside, Tyler confronts Roman with a gun. In the chaos, the weapon discharges and Merrick is shot. Lance disarms Tyler, but Frederick picks up the weapon, shoots Tyler, and presses the gun into Roman's hands to frame him. Frederick reveals he has already had Marcus killed through a bribed hospice nurse. Roman flees.

Roman goes to Juliette for what he believes may be their last night together. She notices blood on his clothes but does not press him. They make love with desperate urgency. He leaves before dawn, writing a note that ends: "Don't trust Frederick" (451).

The next morning, Beverly, Juliette's lifelong nanny and closest mother figure, tells her Tyler is dead and Roman is the suspect. Beverly urges Juliette to flee but gives her a drugged drink and delivers her to Heather, who takes Juliette to Upside Down Rock, where she loses consciousness. Meanwhile, Benjamin confesses to Roman that Frederick is the secret half-brother of Eleanor Voltaire, Marcus's late wife, and has been seeking revenge for Eleanor's death. Heather deliberately poisoned Brooklynn on Frederick's orders to keep Roman desperate. Benjamin warns that Frederick has taken Juliette to the cliff to lure Roman there.

Roman arrives to find Juliette unconscious and bound. Frederick appears with Heather at his side. When Frederick aims the gun at Juliette, Roman lunges. Lance arrives, brought by Benjamin, and shoots Frederick dead. Benjamin takes the weapon and presses his own fingerprints onto it to protect Lance from prosecution.

Juliette recovers surrounded by Roman, her brothers, and Felicity. Tyler and Merrick both survive their wounds. Frederick's conspiracy is publicly exposed, and the graffiti campaign is attributed to him rather than Roman. Beverly's true identity is revealed as Cassandra Troy; she and Heather have both vanished. Craig is pressured into retirement, and Paxton calls for an independent investigation into the family's corruption.

In the epilogue, the Calloway and Montgomery families attend Marcus's funeral together, a symbolic step toward ending the feud. Roman assumes control of the Montgomery Organization with Paxton's guidance, and Juliette moves into Montgomery Manor, committing to her writing. Brooklynn, now healthy after the poisoning has ceased, considers attending Verona University. At a gathering at the Round Table tavern two months later, the group settles into a cautious peace, though unresolved threats linger: mysterious men observed Lance at the funeral, and Lance watches Genevieve, the bartender at the Round Table, with an intensity that suggests hidden entanglements. Roman resolves to propose to Juliette, affirming their love as the foundation for whatever comes next.