It was supposed to be temporary… until it felt like home Haden I like my life exactly as it is. No mess, no attachments, and no complications. Solitude means control… and control means no one gets hurt. But when my sister passes away unexpectedly, I become the reluctant guardian of her daughter. A role I never thought I’d fill, and one I’m not sure I can handle. Then, on the day of her funeral, fate throws me another curveball when I end up saving a stranger from a violent assault, and I bring him home. Jay’s quiet presence and kind nature somehow make everything better and breach my impenetrable walls… bringing hope for a future I never thought I’d have. But I’ve already lost my sister, the only person I loved and trusted to never betray me. Can I really risk opening my heart again, even if it means give my daughter the family she deserves? Can I learn how to trust and believe that I’m capable of building a future worth staying for? When troubles knock at my door, will I have the courage to fight for my baby and the man who made my house a home? Jay I’m forced to pay off a debt that was never mine, but my trust in those I love is my curse. I live buried in desperation and a past that clings to me like a shadow. When I’m saved by a stranger and brought to his home, far from the danger and chaos that is my life, I experience again what being a family is supposed to feel like. Safe, warm, and real. And maybe—just maybe—I’ve found a man who sees more than the mistakes I’ve made and what I did to survive. But can someone with a past like me truly belong in a place this good, and with someone as kind as Haden? When the past shows its ugly face, will I have the courage to fight for the life I want and for a chance to stay with them? Will I finally have a place to call home?