Every marriage has secrets, but Mark never expected to find his wife Emma's in an MMORPG chat window. Months of intimate conversations with a guild member named DarKnight reveal a virtual affair that's become more real than their actual relationship. Instead of rage, Mark feels something far more disturbing: arousal.

Emma makes no effort to hide her obsession. She talks about DarKnight's life, his body, his effect on her with casual intimacy that leaves Mark reeling. Each revelation feeds his growing addiction to his own humiliation. When DarKnight proposes meeting at a gaming convention, Emma's request for "permission" is really an announcement of her intentions.

Mark understands he's been psychologically conditioned-groomed by months of small betrayals to accept this moment. The gaming sessions, the intimate chats, the casual cruelty of Emma's comparisons-all designed to bring him to this point of twisted surrender. Now he craves what should destroy him.