Golden Heart Hospital is the crown jewel of modern medicine, but deep in the basement is an official government-run operation where prisoners are stripped of identity and reduced to numbered medical subjects. There are no names, only bodies used for transplants, research, and experimental trials. Dr. Derek Delflower, once destined to inherit the family empire, is forcibly assigned to the basemement as punishment for being “too emotional” after the devastating loss of his brother. Now trapped under the weight of his father's cold demands. Derek must work alongside his unstable ex-lover, Dr. Finn Aprimin—a surgical prodigy whose addictions barely hide the cracks in his armor. Together, they begin to break rules that were never meant to be questioned, quietly choosing compassion in a place designed of suffering. But their defiance draws dangerous attention. Together they navigate a brutal world where even family ties are expendable, and survival comes at unimaginable cost.

Trigger Warnings:

• Graphic non-consensual surgery without anesthesia

• Medical torture and experimentation on living subjects

• Death of subjects during procedures

• Addiction (drugs, alcohol)

• Drug overdose

• Mental illness (bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression)

• Parental abuse / emotional neglect

This is a dark medical horror romance intended for mature adult readers. The novel contains disturbing medical content and scenes of violence. Reader discretion is advised.

Author’s Note: If you’ve read Unwind by Neal Shusterman, you’ll probably recognize some of the thematic shadows here. I’ve always been captivated by that world’s chilling backstory—the war fought over reproductive rights and the horrifying compromises that followed. I like to imagine Restraint exists in a parallel world where a very similar series of events unfolded… just with a much darker, government-controlled medical dystopia as the result. It’s my twisted love letter to that inspiration, reimagined in my own universe.