He lost the right for my name to sound like anything other than an apology years ago.

I was fifteen when I fell in love with my best friend.

He was beautiful, broken, and a liar.

For years, I loved him in silence. Suffered through every platonic forehead kiss. Endured every night spent huddled together watching old movies in my bed.

Until the night I let him see all the vulnerable parts of me. The night I let him love me back. And after? He didn’t just break my heart. He broke me.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I ran.

And when I finally came back years later? We avoided each other like our lives depended on it. A careful, choreographed dance. A delicate rhythm of never being in the same place at the same time.

Then just when I think I have a fighting chance of getting over him, we’re both forced to show up for a friend’s wedding. It was only supposed to be a small ceremony, a few drinks after. So imagine my shock when I wake up the next morning with a ring on my finger and the man who destroyed my heart sitting in my living room.

Downfall is the third book in the Emberfield Falls Series. While it is part of an interconnected series, it can be read as a complete standalone. Please check content warnings as this book deals with heavy subject matter that may be sensitive to some readers.