PROLOGUE
MILA
Waves crashed against the sand while my mother’s warning still echoed—Stay away from him. That family’s not safe. But I couldn’t forget what came after: Lorne standing over Darren’s body, the gun, the erasure of our names. It was too much to keep buried. Luke deserved the truth—unless he’d been living it all along. My mouth went dry, and I curled my hands into fists to still the slight tremble. Fear would’ve been smart. I just wasn’t feeling smart tonight.
The locker room was probably empty by now, the echo of pucks and whistles fading into the night. I’d already checked my phone twice, reread his text—I’m up. Meet me.—and still couldn’t calm the tremor in my hands.
The drive to the academy from the beach blurred past in a wash of headlights and second-guesses. By the time I parked in the arena’s lot, I’d almost convinced myself it was just a conversation. But conversations with Luke King had a way of changing everything.
It was getting late, and most of the players had already left. I hurried across the lot and slipped through the metal doors that would take me to Luke. After climbing the main levels, I hitthe older part of the building. The stairwell to the roof creaked under my shoes, as if it remembered every secret this town had swallowed.
When I pushed the final door open, the rooftop and skyline spilled around me in smoky dusk hues. Everything resembled one of my charcoal sketches—shades of gray, truth smudged until shadow and what was real blurred together. Fitting. We’d both been living in half-erased lines. And there he was—standing near the edge, back to me, the set of his shoulders tight beneath his hoodie.
For a heartbeat, I almost turned around. Because facing Luke again meant pulling every lie into the light. I’d spent enough time running—from this town, from names, from truths that wouldn’t stay buried. I squared my shoulders and tilted my chin up. Tonight wasn’t about escape. It was about finally turning around to face the thing that had chased me away.
He turned, eyes catching the last streak of gray-blue sky, and it hit me how exhausted he looked. Not physically—emotionally. As if the weight of Blackwood itself had been pressing on his spine. I tread forward, leaving a foot between us. Close enough, but not to invite touch. I needed the space to stand on my own and tell him the truths he needed to hear.
“I wasn’t sure you’d show.” His deep voice rumbled across the space between us.
“Neither was I.” My voice didn’t shake, but the rest of me did. I wanted to start easy—small talk, a joke, anything—but the words clawed their way out before I could stop them. “I overheard Elise after school on the phone today.”
His gaze sharpened, all predator focus.
“She’s unraveling, Luke. Whoever’s pulling her strings… it’s bad. She actually said ‘drug him.’”
The disbelief that flickered across his face almost hurt to watch. I wished I didn’t have to be the one to confirm how ugly this world could get.
But that wasn’t why I’d come. Not really. He notched his head toward the blanket laid out, waiting for us to claim it and the memories of all the past times we’d found sanctuary together up here.
I sank onto the edge of the blanket, knees folding beneath me. “There’s more. And I need your word before I say it—that you’ll protect my mom and me.”
He hesitated then nodded once. “You have it.”
The words steadied me enough to continue. “I don’t even remember why I had to meet Mom at work that night over a year ago. Doesn’t matter. I followed her location, and when I got there…”
Luke shifted. His muscles rippled beneath the taut fabric of his hoodie, and I shivered.
“There was blood. A body. We got the hell out. I inhaled deep then pushed onward. “Back at our place, she wouldn’t tell me who pulled the trigger. The person who was killed… it was my mom’s boyfriend. Darren Langley.”
Recognition flashed in his eyes. “The VP,” he said slowly.
“Yeah. And that was the night we fled. But there’s something else.” My throat went dry, and I had to clear it before I could continue. “My mom… she saw Lorne that night. Standing over Darren’s body. Gun in hand.” Even saying his name made my pulse stutter. The memory was branded into me—the way Mom had shaken as she told me to grab my things. We didn’t say goodbye. We ran.
“There must be some mistake.” Luke’s expression hardened, disbelief fighting realization. “You’re here now. Your school records are back. No one’s coming after you.”
Silence swelled between us, thick and dangerous.
“Your mom thought my family did it,” he said finally.
“Shestilldoes.” The confession scraped raw, and I threaded my fingers together until my knuckles turned white. “They made her come back. Whoever’s behind Dunn Industries—or maybe even Lorne—forced her into a job she couldn’t refuse. Told her we’d be safe if we played along.”
Luke looked as though he wanted to argue, to deny, but the fight in his eyes dimmed.
I pressed a hand to his chest, felt the uneven rhythm of his heart under my palm. “That’s why I can’t fight Elise openly. She’s her father’s weapon, and my mom works for Dunn now. If I push too far, it blows back on both of us.” I swallowed hard. “We’re stuck playing by rules we don’t even understand. And I don’t want to have to leave again.”
“Who is they?”
I shrugged. Wasn’t that the question of the hour? “I-I don’t know for sure. Only that Mom told me to stay away from you. Said the King family’s not safe.”
