Ashes & Alibi

Five years ago, Zariah Vale lost everything.

Her four-year-old daughter, Noelle, was kidnapped in a twisted act of jealousy orchestrated by her boyfriend's obsessed side chick, Selene Cross. What was meant to scare Zariah ended in tragedy when Noelle was killed before she could be rescued.

Instead of facing justice, Selene manipulated witnesses, planted doubt, and turned the investigation against Zariah, painting her as an unstable mother responsible for her own daughter's disappearance. With the city already judging her, Zariah was arrested and charged.

Just when it seemed her life was over, brilliant defense attorney Cassian Rowe uncovered enough inconsistencies in the prosecution's case to have every charge dismissed for lack of evidence. Though she walked free, the whispers never stopped.

Determined to leave her past buried, Zariah rebuilt her life from the ground up, becoming the owner of Eternal Rest Mortuary, where she devoted herself to giving grieving families the peace she never received.

Then one rainy night, everything changes.

A massive, tattooed stranger stumbles through her mortuary doors bleeding from a gunshot wound. Before collapsing, he whispers, "Don't call the police."

The man is Malakai "Kai" Soren-a feared underground fixer with a dangerous reputation and enemies on every corner. As Zariah secretly nurses him back to health, she discovers the ruthless man the streets fear is also fiercely loyal, surprisingly gentle, and carrying scars as deep as her own.

Their connection grows into something neither expected, but the past refuses to stay buried.

Selene has spent the last five years building a perfect public image while hiding deadly secrets, and when she learns Zariah is finally happy, she sets out to finish what she started. What she doesn't know is that Zariah is no longer fighting alone.

Now, with Cassian exposing old lies in court and Kai waging war in the streets, the truth behind Noelle's murder is finally within reach.