I'm working two jobs in Santa Cruz, trying to keep my life from collapsing. My mother is dead. I survived the concert. And my father disappeared in the chaos afterward. No body, no answers, just silence.

I skate the city at night looking for him. Boardwalk lights. Empty streets. Flyers taped to poles that never seem to come down.

That's when I meet an artist who's dying, and the man who loves her enough to lie about it.

They don't offer safety. They offer a way forward.

Following them pulls me into a world I never meant to enter. Quiet deals, borrowed names, and a doctor who operates outside the system. Every choice costs more than the last, and the closer I get to the truth about my father, the harder it becomes to recognize myself.

My name is Swan Singleton.

And this is the mess I'm trying to survive.