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She swore she'd never fall for him again. He came back like a storm-uninvited, unforgettable, and still impossible to resist. Zara Hart had buried her past behind the dorm door of Hillcrest College-until Jace Everett, the boy who vanished without a word, returned as her next-door neighbor. With secrets stitched into his smile and a voice that still makes her heart ache, Jace wants a second chance. But some whispers refuse to stay silent... and their chemistry is louder than ever. Between stolen glances, midnight confessions, and a truth that could break them again-Zara must decide: Is love worth risking the pain all over again? College life. Secret lovers. Second chances. One unforgettable romance that will leave your heart racing.
Hillcrest College was supposed to be Zara Hart's escape.
New faces. New dorm. A chance to finally breathe without the weight of heartbreak hanging over her like fog. For two years, she had carefully built walls around her past-sharp, high, and unshakable.
But those walls cracked the moment she opened her dorm room door.
It started ordinary. Her new roommate, Lia, was already halfway unpacked, chatting about sorority invites and her minor in fashion design. Zara offered a polite smile, though her mind was elsewhere-on books, on silence, on peace.
Then came a knock from across the hallway.
Zara turned casually, expecting a welcome committee. Instead, her heart slammed against her ribs.
Jace Everett.
Same messy black hair. Same dangerous eyes. Same crooked smile that once undid her in the worst way.
He leaned in the doorway across from hers, arms folded over a plain grey tee, looking like sin and summer nights.
"Zara Hart," he said with a slow grin. "Didn't think I'd ever see you here."
She didn't respond. Couldn't. Every part of her past-the love, the betrayal, the silence-stood three feet away.
Jace was her unfinished story. Her favorite regret.
And now... he lived across the hall.
Three years of marriage couldn't melt Theo's frozen heart. When an art gallery collapsed on Lena, he was off romancing another woman—lavishing her with a private jet. Three steel pins held Lena's shoulder together, but her heart remained broken. She filed for divorce and told everyone that he was impotent. Rising from the rubble, Lena blazed onto the design world's A‑list. She expected him to sail off with his true love—until Theo reappeared at her runway, pressing her against the wall. "Impotent, huh? Care to give it a try?"
Kaelyn devoted three years tending to her husband after a terrible accident. But once he was fully recovered, he cast her aside and brought his first love back from abroad. Devastated, Kaelyn decided on a divorce as people mocked her for being discarded. She went on to reinvent herself, becoming a highly sought-after doctor, a champion racer, and an internationally renowned architectural designer. Even then, the traitors sneered in disdain, believing Kaelyn would never find someone. But then the ex-husband’s uncle, a powerful warlord, returned with his army to ask for Kaelyn’s hand in marriage.
On the day of their wedding anniversary, Joshua's mistress drugged Alicia, and she ended up in a stranger's bed. In one night, Alicia lost her innocence, while Joshua's mistress carried his child in her womb. Heartbroken and humiliated, Alicia demanded a divorce, but Joshua saw it as yet another tantrum. When they finally parted ways, she went on to become a renowned artist, sought out and admired by everyone. Consumed by regret, Joshua darkened her doorstep in hopes of reconciliation, only to find her in the arms of a powerful tycoon. "Say hello to your sister-in-law."
Belinda thought after divorce, they would part ways for good - he could live his life on his own terms, while she could indulge in the rest of hers. However, fate had other plans in store. "My darling, I was wrong. Would you please come back to me?" The man, whom she once loved deeply, lowered his once proud head humbly. "I beg you to return to me." Belinda coldly pushed away the bouquet of flowers he had offered her and coolly replied, "It's too late. The bridge has been burned, and the ashes have long since scattered to the wind!"
Joelle thought she could change Adrian's heart after three years of marriage, but she realized too late that it already belonged to another woman. "Give me a baby, and I'll set you free." The day Joelle went into labor, Adrian was traveling with his mistress on his private jet. "I don't care whom you love. My debt is paid. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other." Not long after Joelle left, Adrian found himself begging on his knees. "Please come back to me."
When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn't love her, but that was the last straw for the camel's back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, "Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce." The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.