Chapter 1 When Secrets Come Knocking

Hillcrest College was supposed to be Zara Hart's escape.

New faces. New dorm. A chance to finally breathe without the weight of heartbreak hanging over her like fog. For two years, she had carefully built walls around her past-sharp, high, and unshakable.

But those walls cracked the moment she opened her dorm room door.

It started ordinary. Her new roommate, Lia, was already halfway unpacked, chatting about sorority invites and her minor in fashion design. Zara offered a polite smile, though her mind was elsewhere-on books, on silence, on peace.

Then came a knock from across the hallway.

Zara turned casually, expecting a welcome committee. Instead, her heart slammed against her ribs.

Jace Everett.

Same messy black hair. Same dangerous eyes. Same crooked smile that once undid her in the worst way.

He leaned in the doorway across from hers, arms folded over a plain grey tee, looking like sin and summer nights.

"Zara Hart," he said with a slow grin. "Didn't think I'd ever see you here."

She didn't respond. Couldn't. Every part of her past-the love, the betrayal, the silence-stood three feet away.

Jace was her unfinished story. Her favorite regret.

And now... he lived across the hall.