Alex thought she’d buried the past — the boy who once held her heart, the fire that burned everything down between them, and the secrets that could still ruin her.
Now, in October 2026, she’s building a fragile future with Cole: steady, warm, safe. But a dare on Halloween night pulls her back to Reed Hospital — an abandoned asylum with its own haunted history — and into the shadows of a man she thought she’d left behind.
In the past, there was Justin — first love, best friend, and the beginning of everything. Sweet summer nights. Rooftop confessions. Promises they were too young to keep. But behind Justin’s smile lived something fractured… something Alex didn’t see until it was too late.
As the night at Reed spirals into violence, the truth hidden in the past collides with the danger in the present. And Alex will have to decide: which is more terrifying — the man who wants her, or the part of her that still wants him back?
Two timelines. One dangerous love.
Alycia Sigritz is the author of the Tethered series, including Cigarettes Before Sex, Echo Room, and Liminal. Her work explores inheritance, memory, and the fragile spaces between love and devastation. Drawn to liminal places and morally complex characters, she writes stories that ask what we carry from the past—and whether we ever truly escape it.View all by Alycia Sigritz
