This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2025 by Building Bridges Publishing
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First Edition: December 2025
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bridges, Morgan author
Title: Depraved devotion / Morgan Bridges.
Description: First edition. | New York : Forever, 2025. | Series: Villains & vices ; book 1
Identifiers: LCCN 2025028579 | ISBN 9781538778500 trade paperback | ISBN 9781538778517 ebook
Subjects: LCGFT: Romance fiction | Thrillers (Fiction) | Novels | Fiction
Classification: LCC PS3602.R531396 D47 2025
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025028579
ISBNs: 978-1-5387-7850-0 (trade paperback), 978-1-5387-7851-7 (ebook), 978-1-5387-8073-2 (Walmart Exclusive Edition)
E3-20250930-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Author’s Note
Chapter 1: Geneva
Chapter 2: Geneva
Chapter 3: Ghost
Chapter 4: Geneva
Chapter 5: Geneva
Chapter 6: Geneva
Chapter 7: Geneva
Chapter 8: Geneva
Chapter 9: Ghost
Chapter 10: Geneva
Chapter 11: Geneva
Chapter 12: Ghost
Chapter 13: Geneva
Chapter 14: Ghost
Chapter 15: Geneva
Chapter 16: Ghost
Chapter 17: Geneva
Chapter 18: Ghost
Chapter 19: Ghost
Chapter 20: Geneva
Chapter 21: Geneva
Chapter 22: Ghost
Chapter 23: Geneva
Chapter 24: Ghost
Chapter 25: Geneva
Chapter 26: Ghost
Chapter 27: Ghost
Chapter 28: Geneva
Chapter 29: Geneva
Chapter 30: Ghost
Chapter 31: Geneva
Chapter 32: Geneva
Chapter 33: Geneva
Chapter 34: Geneva
Chapter 35: Geneva
Chapter 36: Geneva
Chapter 37: Ghost
Chapter 38: Geneva
Chapter 39: Geneva
Chapter 40: Geneva
Chapter 41: Geneva
Chapter 42: Geneva
Chapter 43: Geneva
Chapter 44: Geneva
Chapter 45: Geneva
Chapter 46: Geneva
Chapter 47: Ghost
Acknowledgments
Discover More
About the Author
Also by Morgan Bridges
To the reader who saw “obsessed psychopath” and immediately thought: “That’s husband material.”
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
The contents of this dark romance book may be triggering to some readers. It contains explicit sexual content and a morally gray hero who is an over-the-top jealous/possessive stalker and is willing to do whatever it takes to have the heroine. A complete list of trigger warnings can be found below.
stalking/obsession
blackmail/coercion
breaking and entering
violence
murder
dubious consent
off-the-page rape set in the past
off-the-page murder set in the past
parental grief
CHAPTER 1
GENEVA Ghost is corporeal, a man of flesh and blood.
He’s not the ethereal being the media has made him out to be. Or the elusive poltergeist the police think he is. As a criminal psychologist, I’d say that Ghost is barely human… if you consider the number of people he’s admitted to killing.
I make my way toward the courthouse steps that are packed full with people. My skin crawls at the idea of unwanted contact with strangers, each touch brought on by pushing and shoving. But it’s unavoidable if I want to witness this high-profile arraignment.
News reporters, with their cameramen right behind them, wield microphones like batons, nearly assaulting anyone who gets too close. Protesters carry their signs like badges of honor, hoisting the homemade signs into the air, their chanting loud and continuous. Some advocate for the death penalty, despite this being New York City. The other half pleads for mercy on behalf of Ghost, saying his crimes were justified.
Without a psychological profile on him, no one can know for sure.
I tuck my chin and ball my fists, prepared to do a little pushing and shoving of my own, if necessary. I’m almost at the top of the courthouse steps when someone slams into me from behind. My feet trip over themselves as I stumble. Before I can recover, I collide with a stranger.
A tall man with dark hair and medium build swings around to face me, his features twisted in a sneer. “You better watch where you’re going, bitch!”
I step back to gain some distance, but I’m still surrounded by people on all sides. And close enough to make out the scratches on his wrist. They’re not from a cat.
“I apologize,” I say calmly. “Someone pushed me, and I didn’t mean to bump into you.”
“Save your story for someone who gives a shit.”
