"How does someone who's been deeply hurt ever find a way to live again?"

Katy works in a small Chicago bookstore, trying her best to go unnoticed. Every jingle of the shop's door sends her heart racing. Every unfamiliar face might be a threat. And every day is a battle not to drown in memories that refuse to let her go.

Three years ago, her life was destroyed by the man who claimed to love her. Jake didn't just hurt her physically—he filmed intimate moments without her consent...and spread them everywhere. Since then, Katy hasn't just been "herself." She's become the girl in the video. The slut. The walking shame everyone thinks they know.

She changed cities. Changed her name. Changed everything—except the certainty that Jake would find her.

And when he finally shows up in Chicago, the fragile walls Katy has built start to crack. He sends messages. Spreads fear. And makes venomous promises that "no one will ever love her" except him.

But something—or someone—starts to challenge that certainty.

Ethan, a regular customer in the bookstore, sees beyond Katy's defenses. He sees her pain, but he also sees her strength. He insists on staying, even when every part of her screams to push him away. Because he knows: fear isn't failure. Fear is what keeps someone alive.

Amid Chicago's freezing snow, between bookshelves, bitter coffee, and haunting memories, Katy will have to make an impossible choice: keep living hidden in the shadows of fear...or finally fight to exist again.

Even if fighting means exposing her deepest wound. Even if fighting means facing the video, the shame, the judgment.

Because there is life after pain. And there is love—even for those who believe they're irrevocably broken.

If you've ever felt invisible, dirty, or alone... this book is for you.

If you've ever carried guilt for something that was never your fault... this book is for you.

If you've ever wanted to disappear from the world... or needed someone to hold your hand so you wouldn't fall... this book is for you.

Prepare yourself for a raw, truthful, and devastatingly beautiful story about trauma, courage, and redemption. About the power of words to save lives. And about discovering that no one is just the worst moment in their story.

Katy is not just the girl in the video.

She's living proof that it's still possible to begin again.

"You are not what was done to you. You are everything you survived."