Old wounds surface, unspoken truths simmer, and timing proves cruel. Shea finds herself balancing professional boundaries and buried attraction, Jason confronts grief he’s long avoided, and Kayla arrives carrying a humiliation she refuses to name. When an unexpected presence walks through the door, restraint fractures—and what was meant to stay buried threatens to erupt in plain sight.
Some connections don’t need explaining. They just show up, sit beside you, and refuse to leave when the truth gets uncomfortable.
Peace is fragile when secrets are starving. This chapter sits at the intersection of restraint and rupture , where control slips, loyalty is questioned, and the weight of unfinished business presses in from every direction. Some calls don’t reconnect people. They reopen everything.
Everything comes full circle in this chapter. Old wounds resurface, silence breaks, and the truth—raw and unfiltered—finally walks into the room. What happens when the past you buried shows up wearing your father’s face?
Friendship. Loyalty never resided. Enemies.
Kae Jaye The Writer 