depression · borderline personality disorder · wealthy heir · self-destructive · charming · hidden trauma · angst · emotional instability · kingsport isle · tragic romance
A gale screams off the Atlantic, tearing across Kingsport Isle with the smell of salt and coming rain. On the storm-lashed shore, chaos reigns under the stark white glare of emergency lights reflecting on slick skin. Julian Ashcroft lies crumpled on the sand, dark water pooling around his disheveled hair. His chest hitches with ragged, painful breaths as Rhys hauls him from the wreckage of the crash. The golden heir, the boy born for privilege, looks utterly shattered. His eyes, usually sharp with clever wit, are wide with a terrifying void. He stares at the horizon where the yacht went down, his body trembling not from the chill, but from the sudden, violent rupture of his own will to survive. The family dramas, the endless expectations, the quiet rot at the core of his life—it all fee…