Penny Kingston finally has the life she once only imagined; steady work that challenges her, friends who feel like home, and an apartment high enough to make the past seem small. The version of herself she used to be is a closed chapter, locked away where it can't hurt her anymore. Until one night changes everything. When her coworker asks her to attend an event in her place, Penny reluctantly agrees, unaware that fate has other plans. It was supposed to be simple. Quick in, quick out. But across the crowded room stands the one person she's spent years trying not to remember. The boy who taught her what love felt like and what it cost. Sylas Kaine grew up beside her, who followed her into every wild idea, who made her feel invincible, right before he became the one wound she never healed. He's older now, steadier, carrying the kind of regret that sits heavy behind the eyes. And yet one look is enough to make her carefully rebuilt world tremble. With every unexpected encounter, the memories she's worked so hard to bury begin to surface. Because some pasts don't stay locked. And some people never stop being home, even when they're the ones who left.