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Some people spend their whole lives trying to escape one mistake. When Y/N watches a stranger return to her small hometown, she quickly realizes everyone already knows his name—and no one wants him there. Mason Ryder made one reckless decision at eighteen that changed everything. After years behind bars, he’s finally home, carrying nothing but a duffel bag, a lifetime of guilt, and a reputation he can’t outrun. Everyone tells Y/N to stay away from him. Instead, she can’t stop wondering who he really is beneath the whispers, the rumors, and the scars. As their lives become intertwined, Y/N discovers that the man everyone fears isn’t the monster they made him out to be. But in a town that refuses to forget the past, loving someone like Mason comes with a price. Because sometimes the hardest sentence isn’t the one a judge gives you— It’s convincing yourself that you deserve a second chance.