A psychological romance thriller where safety becomes a prison and trust is the ultimate risk.

Five years after surviving a brutal abduction, cybersecurity expert Sloane Carter lives behind digital firewalls and physical ones—until an online connection threatens everything. A gripping tale of trauma, trust, and finding courage when your greatest fear returns.

Trapped within the fortress she built to survive, Sloane Carter controls everything in her isolated world. By day, she’s a brilliant cybersecurity expert who protects others from digital threats. By night, she escapes into online gaming with friends who’ve never seen her face—the only human connection she allows herself.

But someone is watching through the cracks.

When she connects with “Kade,” a tactical player whose protective nature draws her in, Sloane feels something she thought had died years ago. What she doesn’t know is that Kade is actually Logan Kincaid—the SWAT officer who rescued her five years ago, and who has been watching over her ever since.

As their relationship deepens across digital lines, disturbing breaches appear in Sloane’s perfect security. Anonymous messages. Inexplicable digital traces. A sense of being observed that her cameras can’t explain.

With her stalker locked away, Sloane begins questioning her own sanity. Are these new threats real, or echoes of old trauma? As virtual and real worlds collide, she must decide if she can trust again—not just Logan, but her own instincts.

Because sometimes the walls we build to protect ourselves become the very things that trap us.

This psychological thriller delivers:

• An agoraphobic heroine fighting to reclaim her life
• A protective cop with a secret online identity
• Digital cat-and-mouse suspense that blurs virtual and real threats
• Gaming culture and found family through online connections
• Slow-burn romance between two damaged souls
• The terror of being watched when all your security fails
• PTSD recovery portrayed with emotional authenticity
• A fortress home that becomes both sanctuary and prison
• A hero who would burn the world to keep her safe
• Trust issues that must be overcome for survival

Through alternating perspectives, this dark psychological thriller explores the aftermath of trauma and the courage it takes to trust again. As Sloane fights to identify the new threat circling her carefully constructed world, she’ll discover that safety and imprisonment sometimes look exactly the same.

Some firewalls protect. Others trap.

THE FIREWALL BETWEEN US is Book 2 in the Offline For You Duet. This psychological romance thriller cannot be read as a standalone. Start with Book 1, THE GLITCH IN HER WORLD.