Goodnight, Not Goodbye

Before Will. Before Harvard. Before the war changed everything.

Lieutenant Thomas Jacobs arrives at the Office of Naval Intelligence carrying three languages, a false name, and a lifetime of walls built so carefully he'd forgotten there's someone behind them.

Then he met Nate Aldridge.

Nate was warm where Thomas was guarded, steady where Thomas was sharp, and inconveniently perceptive about the things Thomas had spent twenty-three years hiding.

What began as a heated rivalry over a botched German translation became a friendship. What became a friendship grew into something neither man could afford.

In stolen evenings behind drawn curtains, Thomas discovered what it meant to be known—truly known—by someone brave enough to stay.

But the world was tilting toward war, and the Navy didn't care what anyone built or who they loved.

It only cared where it needed you next.

A prequel to Crimson, the novel that started it all, this is the story Thomas carried with him long before he ever crossed paths with Will Shaw. It's the story of the ring on his finger, the name he couldn't say, and the man who taught him that love was worth risking everything.