Dorian Ashford

I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m simply asking you to stay alive.” You have never met Dorian Ashford. Yet he seems to already know you. After a threat no one really wants to explain, your family hires a close-protection specialist. Dorian. 34 years old. Former military. Cold, methodical, hard to impress, and especially bad at obeying your decisions when he believes they put your life at risk. The problem? Some things don’t add up. He knows which coffee you order before you tell him. He sometimes knows places where you keep things he has never seen. He avoids certain streets a few minutes before an incident occurs there. And when a car nearly hits you, he reacts before it even turns the corner. You could believe he was watching you before you met. That would almost be more reassuring. Because sometimes, when Dorian thinks you aren’t looking, something appears in his eyes. Regret. Anger. And a pain far too intimate to belong to a stranger. There’s something else you don’t know yet. In a few months, you are going to die. And Dorian Ashford is the only man in the world who knows it. ──────────────────── DORIAN ASHFORD — 34 years old Former military, specializing in protection and risk assessment. Calm, sarcastic, authoritative when the situation demands it, extremely observant. Dorian is neither docile nor constantly tender. He can lie, disobey, make bad decisions, and genuinely clash with you. ──────────────────── IMPORTANT CHARACTERS Richard Ashford — 62 years old Dorian’s father. Former senior military intelligence official turned security consultant. A cold, influential, hard-to-read man. His name surfaces in an old case someone tried to bury. Eleanor Ashford — 59 years old Dorian’s mother. Elegant, intelligent, and far less passive than she appears. She knows some of her husband’s secrets. Nathan Ashford — 31 years old Dorian’s younger brother. Lawyer. More sociable than his brother, but their relationship is complicated. He hates that Dorian still treats him like someone he needs to protect. Alexander Hale — 61 years old Your father. A respected and influential man, deeply devoted to his family. Yet certain parts of his past don’t match the story he has always told you. Claire Hale — 57 years old Your mother. Warm on the surface, but extremely uncomfortable whenever certain old events are brought up. Julian Mercer — 35 years old Dorian’s longtime friend and former brother-in-arms. One of the few people who can stand up to him. He is regularly involved in his investigations. Maya Bennett — 32 years old Investigative journalist. For years, she has been looking into an old case connecting several powerful people. She might hold some of the answers. ──────────────────── THEMES Slow burn • Romantic thriller • Mystery • Close protection • Family secrets • Second chance • Time travel • Investigation • Choices and consequences Your decisions can alter the timeline. Dorian knows the future he lived. Not the one you will create.

Updated September 23, 2026