Beneath the Surface • Rafe Cameron

Juliet Routledge thought she'd finally escaped the weight of Kildare Island. With a scholarship to Chapel Hill, her future seemed set-free from her father's obsession with the Royal Merchant treasure, free from the endless grind of Pogue life, and free to explore the delicate, unexpected romance with Rafe Cameron, the Kook Prince she never meant to fall for.

But everything changed the day her father went missing.

Forced to abandon her dreams and return home, Juliet finds herself drowning in responsibility. Now the sole guardian of her younger brother, John B, she works long shifts at The Wreck and as a bartender on Figure 8, just to make ends meet. She's sacrificed everything for her family, yet her relationship with John B is fraying, her own future slipping further from reach. To make matters worse, Rafe's heart has turned cold. Hurt by her sudden departure, he's spiraled into a darker version of himself, surrounded by arrogance, drugs, and a simmering resentment that threatens to erupt.

As Juliet and Rafe's paths cross once more, old feelings clash with fresh wounds. Trapped between love and duty, they find themselves drawn together by a bond neither can shake, but both are afraid to trust. In a world divided by loyalty, betrayal, and the unyielding tides of Kildare Island, Juliet and Rafe must face a single, haunting question:

Can love survive when everything else falls apart?