The Kiss That Broke Us

Synopsis

Sophie thought the worst thing that could happen on her eighteenth birthday was being forgotten, until she walks into her own party and finds her boyfriend, Ethan, kissing her older sister, Clara—the sick, fragile girl Sophie has spent her life protecting.When Sophie refuses to forgive them, her family blames her for being selfish, Ethan insists the kiss meant nothing, and Clara begs her to understand. Sophie has spent years coming second, so this time, she chooses herself and walks away.Three weeks later, Clara disappears.The police believe she ran away, but Sophie knows her sister would never leave without saying goodbye. Then a message appears from Clara's phone before mysteriously disappearing.I didn't steal Ethan because I loved him. I kissed him because I needed you to leave him. He wasn't dating you because he loved you. He was looking for something.Determined to find Clara, Sophie follows the clues her sister left behind, but the investigation leads her toward a secret her family has spent years burying. Her only ally is Noah, Ethan's former best friend and the boy Sophie has always believed hated her.Noah knows Ethan better than anyone, yet he refuses to tell Sophie everything, and when Ethan begins appearing wherever her investigation takes her, Noah reluctantly joins the search to keep her safe. As danger forces them closer, their uneasy partnership becomes something neither of them can ignore, and Sophie begins falling for the boy who keeps choosing her when everyone else has made her feel like a second choice.But after Sophie finally kisses Noah, she discovers he has been hiding the truth.Noah knew Clara had been afraid of Ethan for months, and that she had made him promise to protect Sophie no matter what happened. He kept her warnings, her messages, and a recording meant only for Sophie—and when Clara vanished, he kept all of it from Sophie instead of telling her the truth.Now Sophie cannot decide whether Noah's feelings are real or whether she is simply another promise he made to her sister.Then Sophie uncovers the secret behind Clara's disappearance.Years ago, Ethan's father caused a fatal hit-and-run, and Sophie's parents helped him cover it up. During their escape, their car crashed, nearly killing Sophie and leaving Clara with the illness that has controlled her life ever since.Before the crash, Sophie unknowingly took a photograph that captured the entire scene, including Ethan's father beside the dying victim. Her parents destroyed every copy they found, but one photograph disappeared.Ethan's father has spent years searching for it.And Ethan originally entered Sophie's life to find it.When Clara discovered the truth, she sacrificed Sophie's love and broke her sister's heart because she believed heartbreak was the only way to save her. But Ethan found Clara before she could escape.Now Sophie receives a video of her sister tied to a chair, with Ethan standing beside her.“You have until midnight to remember where you hid it.”With Noah beside her but no longer making choices for her, Sophie must return to the night she has spent years trying to forget and uncover the location of the missing photograph before Ethan silences Clara forever.Because this time, Sophie refuses to come second.And by midnight, she must choose between saving her sister, exposing her family, and trusting the boy who lied because he loved her.