Chapter 1
The air in Ashford still smelled the same.
Pine, dirt, and something just slightly rotten underneath—like the town had been holding its breath too long.
Rae Carter noticed it the second she stepped out of her car.
She shut the door slowly, like too much noise might wake something up. The gravel crunched under her boots as she looked around the empty stretch of road. Nothing had changed. Same crooked fence lines. Same faded houses. Same silence that felt heavier than it should.
God, she hated it here.
And yet… here she was.
“Should’ve kept driving,” she muttered, dragging her duffel bag out of the backseat.
But running only works until it doesn’t.
The old Carter house sat at the end of the road like it had been waiting for her. Paint peeling. Porch sagging just enough to be dangerous. Windows dark.
Abandoned—but not forgotten.
Her jaw tightened as she stared at it.
Three years.
Three years since she left in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to anyone. Three years since the whispers started. Three years since that night.
A car passed slowly behind her.
Too slowly.
Rae didn’t turn around right away. She could feel it—that familiar weight of being watched. Judged. Recognized.
Small towns don’t forget.
When she finally glanced over her shoulder, the car had already rolled past… but she caught the driver looking in the rearview mirror.
Yeah. News would spread fast.
“Great,” she said under her breath. “Welcome home.”
She grabbed her bag and started toward the house, forcing her legs to move even as her chest tightened.
The porch creaked when she stepped on it.
Still dramatic. Still loud.
Still impossible to sneak into your own life.
Her fingers hovered over the doorknob for a second.
This was a mistake.
She knew it.
But there were some things you couldn’t outrun forever.
Rae pushed the door open.
Dust. Heat. Silence.
And memories that hit harder than she expected.
She dropped her bag just inside the doorway and exhaled slowly, rubbing her hand over her face.
“Just fix what you came to fix,” she whispered. “Then leave.”
Simple.
It would’ve been… if she hadn’t felt it again.
That same feeling from the road.
Like she wasn’t alone.
Rae turned her head slightly toward the window.
And that’s when she saw him.
Across the street.
Leaning against an old black truck like he’d been there a while.
Watching.
He didn’t wave. Didn’t move.
Just stood there—arms crossed, expression unreadable, eyes locked on her like he already knew exactly why she was back.
Rae’s stomach dropped.
Because she knew him too.
Cole Mercer.
Of course it had to be him.
Of all people.
Of all the things waiting for her in this town…
He might be the worst one.
