Journalist Emmeline Kirby is reeling from the recent discovery that her parents were murdered while on assignment when she was five. She flirts with danger as she sets off on the long-cold trail to find their killer. At the same time, her probing questions about the suspicious death of Russian national Pavel Melnikov gain her a coterie of enemies. To complicate matters, her path crosses with prominent industrialist Victor Royce, who turns her world upside down.

Gregory Longdon, her dashing fiancé and jewel thief-cum-insurance investigator, has grave problems of his own. His past has caught up with him. Alastair Swanbeck, a ruthless entrepreneur with ties to Putin and the underworld, is alive and intent on revenge. Swanbeck’s cat-and-mouse taunts reveal that he can get to Gregory—and Emmeline—anytime he desires. When evil’s poison lurks in things that are better left alone, the quest for justice could prove fatal for Emmeline and Gregory.