Plans can be thwarted, and people can be astoundingly manipulative and deceptive. It's a lesson Tyson should never forget. One he's learned numerous times by those he should've been able to trust. But then someone new crosses his path, and he lets them get past his manifested defenses. Amara's desperation to escape and end her life ripped his heart out. As a result, a fortified shield encased his heart, one that's nearly impenetrable. Inner turmoil cripples him when he has doubts and suspects that maybe he had been wrong to build it as volatile and unwavering as he had. The free-spirited person he used to be no longer exists. In its place is a hardcore casing that strangles him and refuses to release its grip.

A well thought out future, one that has been calibrated down to the smallest detail, can collapse and tumble around you. No one knows that better than Hemmingway. She went into the armed forces with the mindset to better herself and make herself a stronger, formidable woman so that she could try to tweak her fate and weave her fantasy into reality. Make him see her instead of through her. Hemmi's heartfelt crush, that once seemed so imperative, is now a superficial ambition. Her goals and aspirations have been altered, because the motivation to find love was obliterated by two sinister men, and it no longer fuels her desires.

Will their past win, or will they give into the temptation? The draw to each other is hard to deny, but they both have demons that hold them back. They have a rocky road before them. It'll be jolting, but the longer they're confined, and on the run, the harder the tug is to resist.