UNLICENSED TO HEAL

"Maybe you should start loving yourself."

Irene Hart laughs at the suggestion.
"I'm not my type."

Her psychiatrist tilts his head slightly.
"Not toxic enough?"

That should've been her first warning.

After years of therapy, destructive habits, and surviving the kind of pain that changes a person permanently, she's tired of pretending she wants to be fixed. She knows exactly what she is-too much, too angry, too broken for soft love.

Then she meets him.

Aston McCallum, her new psychiatrist is calm, unreadable, and far too perceptive for comfort. He doesn't look at her like she's fragile. He looks at her like he's studying something dangerous... and enjoying it.

What starts as therapy turns into something far more unsettling.

A game of careful questions.
Lingering silences.
Blurred boundaries neither of them stop crossing.

Because the deeper they sink into each other, the more terrifying one truth becomes:

Some people don't want to heal.

Some people just want to be understood.

And sometimes, the worst thing you can do is find someone who finally does.