The Secrets We Carry
About this series
The Secrets We Carry is a gripping series about the lives we leave behind, the secrets we protect, and the people who slowly become the ones we trust.
At the center of the series is Rylee Schmidt, a woman determined to build a new life while keeping the truth about her past buried. As she begins finding friendship, love, family, and a sense of safety she never thought she could have, the secrets she's spent years protecting don't simply disappear.
Some truths stay hidden. Some begin to surface. And some have the power to change everything.
As Rylee's new life unfolds, trust will be tested, old fears will resurface, and the people closest to her will discover that there is far more to her story than they ever imagined.
Because everyone carries secrets.
The question is what happens when those secrets can no longer stay buried.
AI Disclosure: Cover art was created with AI assistance.
Stories
Where the Secrets Are Buried
Story 1 • 24 chapters
Rylee didn't leave Fairhaven because she wanted a fresh start.
She ran.
With her young son, Koda, Rylee disappears from the life she once knew and begins hiding in Huntington, Tennessee, hoping distance will give her room to breathe. She has a new home, a new routine, and a carefully guarded life that depends on one thing:
Tyson cannot find her.
He doesn't know where she is.
Rylee intends to keep it that way.
For the first time, she begins to experience something she almost forgot existed—normal.
A job she cares about. People she can slowly learn to trust. Quiet evenings with her son. A stubborn little dachshund she never expected to love. Small moments that feel like living.
And then, unexpectedly, something else begins finding its way into Rylee's life.
Something she never planned for.
Something that makes the future feel a little less empty.
But Rylee knows better than to believe the past stays buried forever.
There are things she left behind in Fairhaven she hasn't told anyone. Questions she has carried. Memories she has tried not to revisit. And a history that may hold more secrets than Rylee ever realized.
Because sometimes running from someone means running from more than the person themselves.
Sometimes the truth is waiting right behind you.
As Rylee builds a life worth protecting, the line between the past and present begins to blur. The safety she's fought for feels fragile, and the secrets she thought she could leave behind may not be finished with her.
Rylee has spent years learning how to survive.
Now she's learning how to live.
But when your entire new life depends on staying hidden, how much can you afford to trust?
And how long can secrets remain buried before someone starts digging?
Where the Secrets Are Buried is the first novel in The Secrets We Carry, a three-novel suspense series filled with secrets, danger, unexpected connections, buried truths, and the fight to protect the life Rylee has finally begun to call her own.