Last Hope

Darkness has shadowed me for as long as I can remember—creeping into every memory, every scar, every quiet moment I try to claim as my own.
Violence took everything from me once. I swore I’d never let it take me again. But the night I was left for dead, I found myself at the one door I never thought I’d knock on—Riley Burns’s.
Riley. The man who made me feel alive when I’d forgotten how. The man whose touch I still remember like a promise. Months ago, we shared one perfect night that ended too soon, and I disappeared before he could ask why.
Now I’m back—bruised, broken, and terrified—but he doesn’t hesitate. He brings me inside. He makes me feel safe. And for the first time in a long time, I start to believe I could be whole again.
But Riley carries his own ghosts—family secrets that threaten to unravel everything he’s built. Together, we’re learning that love isn’t about rescuing each other. It’s about finding the courage to heal side by side, even when the past keeps clawing its way back.
He’s my calm in the storm. My reason to fight. My home in a world that’s tried to take everything.
The question is—when the darkness returns, will love be enough to save us both?

Last Hope is a standalone novel in the Carter Hills Band universe and has the appearances of many characters from other books in the same universe.