Amy's furious and frequent clashes with her autocratic parents and the epic class wars with the queen of the high school campus leads her to flee the Iowa cornfields for the promise land. There she'll flirt with the cameras on the red carpet, see her name rolling in movie credits, and those who thought her worthless will realize just who she was born to be. But two years after leaving everything behind, including her name, and with an agent more interested in three-martini lunches than advancing her career, she is fed up with the walk-on roles he signs. Now, the reinvented Natalie Beaumont seizes control. Tony Alonso's criminal profile spans from stealing kids' lunch money to serial killer. Cross him and terror-filled eyes dissolving into a death-stare gives Tony only fleeting respite from the volatile force always seething at his core-an explosive flow destined yet another violent eruption. After serving hard time on an embarrassing minor charge nowhere near fitting the lights he's put out, and with no wish for a life-without-parole reprise, he uproots from his New Jersey criminal enterprise and makes his way to LA. A chance encounter with a young high school dropout on a movie set drives Natalie into Tony's perverse world. At their first meeting, her impression of him doesn't scream "run for your life," so when Tony offers a screen test for a role in a film being produced by the most sought after actor in Hollywood, it's the leap Natalie cannot resist-"Whatever it damn well takes." Once on the unconventional set, Tony's nonthreatening demeanor and scripted reassurances convince Natalie to abandon caution and dive into her most demanding role. When the camera stops rolling, though, Natalie's dream of stardom is crushed. She is raped and abducted. Then, for the next three cruel days, while she and Tony wrest the demons that have thrust them together, deprived of food and water, she endures imprisonment with her hands, feet and mouth bound and gagged. Even with his constant pointblank-threats with a silver-barreled Colt .45, Natalie resolves to find the grit to plot her escape. Once free of her bonds, she matches wits with the Tony's quick tongue-and loses. But the final battle is not with words. Her survival rests on the aftermath of a shocking twist Natalie does not see coming.
