The Chaos Merchant

Tiffany Vale vanished without a trace. But not without a reason.

When a demolition crew begins tearing down the remains of Black Hollow Academy—a once-elite prep school buried by scandal—they uncover a sealed room in the basement.

Inside is a skeleton hidden behind a false wall. Small. Forgotten. The ultimate cold case.

DNA quickly confirms the truth: the bones belong to Tiffany Vale, a fifteen-year-old girl who vanished twenty years ago. At the time, they called her a runaway. Now, it’s clear someone murdered her.

Hired by Tiffany’s brother to investigate a case no one else will touch, Silas West begins digging into the past. But Black Hollow’s alumni are a who’s who of America’s wealthy and powerful—including senators, CEOs, even a former president.

And the deeper he looks, the clearer it becomes: this case wasn’t just forgotten. It was buried on purpose.

As Silas unearths the truth, he’s forced to confront ghosts of his own—an old city, an old love, and a question he’s never fully answered: How far will someone go to protect the one thing they can’t bear to lose?