Eli Rossum has never had anyone to call family—until Serena Tidewell smiles at him across a crowded bar and doesn’t look away. She’s gorgeous, gentle, and for some unfathomable reason, wants a future with him. So when she teases that he’s never even visited her “tiny hometown island” and wonders aloud if he’s serious about marrying her, Eli does the only thing a terrified, lovestruck orphan can do—he begs for two weeks off and promises to show up. The ferry is a rusted fishing boat. The dock is half abandoned. The village looks too clean, too empty, like someone scrubbed the life out of it. But Serena’s parents are unnervingly perfect hosts, the dinner is warm, the liquor flows, and Eli passes out in her childhood bed thinking maybe, just maybe, he beat the odds. Until he wakes up in the night, steps outside to pee, and hears a familiar voice in the dark. His old orphanage friend, Caleb Knox, is on the island too—with a local girlfriend. Two college guys they met on the ferry have gone “looking for mermaids” with another island girl. By morning, one of the students is missing, there’s blood on the mountain path, and someone has killed the cell signal for miles. Then Eli finds the forum posts. Same username as Serena’s. Same avatar. Same directions. And one specific requirement: “No family. No one to file a missing person report.” On a lawless island where every smile is a lie and every body part has a price tag, Eli has one rule left: If nobody’s coming to save you, you burn their whole kingdom down and save yourself.