Masked Salvation

Some scars don’t fade, they teach you how to fight back.

Elouise thought the fire would be the end of her story.
Drugged, broken, and left to burn by the man who swore to love her, she never expected to wake up, to breathe again, to feel again, to want again.

But survival has a cost.

Alex Raines knows that better than anyone. A firefighter turned cop with ghosts that won’t let him rest, he’s spent his life saving people who don’t want to be saved. But when he pulls Elouise from the flames, something inside him shifts. Protecting her isn’t a duty, it’s a promise.

As Elouise learns what love is supposed to feel like, the darkness she escaped still lingers.
Her abuser isn’t gone.
And the truth Alex uncovers reveals more than either of them are ready for, a web of corruption, murder, and a past that binds them both to the same shadows.

To be free, she’ll have to face the man who tried to destroy her.
To save her, Alex will have to confront the one he’s been running from his entire life.

And when the smoke clears, only one truth remains:
Salvation isn’t found in being rescued. It’s in rising from the ashes.

©2025 Aubrey Velasquez (P)2026 Aubrey Velasquez