In Calusa Cove, the past doesn't drown. It hunts.Bradford "Buddy" Ballard left the FBI to build a quieter life in Calusa Cove, working for the Aegis Network far from the chaos that nearly broke him. But peace is hard to hold onto when a Jane Doe turns up in the Everglades-her injuries too familiar, her story too close to the one that's haunted him for the last few months. He tells himself it's just another case. The truth is, it feels like the past has finally found him.Fallon Reeves, a Florida Fish and Wildlife officer, knows these waters better than anyone. Fourteen years after her best friend disappeared, the swamp still whispers questions she can't answer. The discovery of the Jane Doe rips those old wounds wide open, and working beside Buddy-steady, complicated, impossible not to feel-makes it harder to keep her balance.Heat, danger, and desire twist through every clue they uncover, pulling them closer to something they can't name-and a threat that's been waiting in the dark for both of them.