A toxic first love. A perfect family. One secret that could burn everything to the ground. For years, Patrick Tyler received an annual message. A time. A place. No explanation needed. And he always went, drawn back to Lexi, the woman from his past who knew exactly how to get to him.

Maybe it was easier that way. Safer. Some secrets are best kept quiet, even if someone else is the one keeping them. Then, for fifteen years, Lexi vanished. Now Patrick has the life he always wanted: a wife, children and a business of his own. But when the fake appointments begin, the bad reviews appear and a strange car starts watching his family, Patrick knows better than to believe in coincidence. Lexi is back. But what does she want? She knows things about him even his wife doesn't.

And she was never one to take no for an answer. As the past tightens around the present and his perfect life begins to unravel, Patrick realises it's not a question of what Lexi wants from him. It's how much she plans to take. © 2027 by John Marrs, all rights reserved.