Presumed Dead

RELEASES SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

She's been mourning him for years. He's been lying for longer.

Ethan Vale doesn't know who he is anymore. Three years undercover with the Coast Guard Investigative Service erased the man he used to be. The mission worked too well—even his family believed he'd died. Now he works for a covert unit that gave him purpose when he had none, and his latest assignment brings him back to the one place he swore he'd never return.

Sloane Mercer hasn't believed a word anyone's told her in three years. Not since her brother Dylan died in a "boating accident" that made no sense. She runs the family marina alone now, watching the water, tracking patterns, waiting for the truth to surface. The locals call her difficult. She calls herself patient.

Ethan knew Dylan. Worse, Ethan knows things about Dylan's death that could destroy Sloane or set her free. He's supposed to investigate the syndicate's maritime routes, not reopen wounds that never healed. But Sloane's obsessive records hold exactly what his unit needs, and she won't share them with anyone she doesn't trust.

The man she's starting to trust has been lying since the moment they met. The truth she's been hunting might break her heart. And the syndicate that killed her brother isn't finished with the Mercer family.