One fall. Too many secrets.

Bella Gaines was brilliant, driven, and hiding more than anyone knew. When she’s found dead at the bottom of her townhouse stairwell, the police call it an accident—a drunken misstep with tragic consequences. The case is closed.

John Klade knows better.

A former Navy SEAL turned private investigator, Klade is no stranger to official lies. Reluctantly hired by Bella’s estranged mother, he begins pulling at loose threads—and discovers a life split cleanly in two. Law student by day. Exotic dancer by night. Somewhere between the shadows, Bella uncovered something powerful men were willing to kill to protect.
As Klade descends into a labyrinth of corruption involving an upscale strip club, a prestigious law firm, and whispers of classified military contracts, the line between justice and survival blurs. Evidence vanishes. Allies lie. And the deeper Klade digs, the more his own past begins to echo back at him.

In a city where truth is bought, sold, and buried, the stairwell where Bella died may not be the end—but the entrance.

Because some falls aren’t accidents.
And some silences are earned in blood.