Back to the Beginning

by Avery Winslow

The Second Time Around · Book 10

Claire Evans has dedicated her life to running Haven House, a shelter where broken women rebuild their lives one brave decision at a time. When a violent break-in shatters their sanctuary, security consultant Grant Bishop arrives with protocols that promise safety but feel like imprisonment, and Claire tells him to get out of her life for good. But when an attack leaves Claire hospitalized with amnesia, she wakes up believing Grant is still her trusted partner, with no memory of the brutal fight that drove him away or the words she used to destroy him. Now Grant faces an impossible choice: tell Claire the truth about how she pushed him out and risk her recovery, or protect the woman he loves by living a lie that gets harder to maintain with every passing day. As threats escalate and a vengeful ex-husband targets the shelter, Claire and Grant must work together to keep everyone safe—even as Claire begins to uncover evidence that her own past self was hiding something. When buried memories start surfacing, Claire will have to confront the person she was before the accident, the devastating reasons she drove Grant away, and whether second chances are possible when you can't remember making the mistakes that destroyed everything the first time.

18 chapters