Saved by Him, Claimed by Him
Kai Tanaka is Seattle’s best rescue swimmer, the man they send into black water when the storm decides to take a life. He’s built for cold, built for chaos, built to bring people back.
Until one rescue goes wrong.
A body disappears. The footage goes missing. And Kai becomes the quiet scapegoat the Coast Guard can sacrifice to keep the institution clean. Suspended and watched, he’s barely holding on when Luca Reyes drags his name into the light.
Luca is a true-crime podcaster chasing the truth behind that same night, because his younger brother was on the boat that never came home. Luca thinks Kai is hiding something. Kai thinks Luca is feeding off tragedy. Their first meeting is sharp and ugly.
Then Luca is nearly killed for asking the right questions.
Kai pulls him from the wreckage and realizes this isn’t internet noise. Someone is laundering bodies through the sea, and they’re using Kai as the fall guy. The only way to keep Luca alive is to disappear with him to an off-grid cabin on the San Juan Islands, where the wind never stops and secrets sound louder.
Forced proximity turns into hunger. Suspicion turns into heat. And the closer they get to the truth, the more they realize the storm isn’t the worst thing chasing them.