Credence

Credence Plot Summary

Introduction

# Shadows and Silence: A Mountain Reckoning The helicopter blades slice through Colorado mountain air as seventeen-year-old Tiernan de Haas stares down at her exile. Her celebrity parents are three days dead—a murder-suicide that left no note, no explanation, only their daughter's shattered inheritance and a one-way ticket to nowhere. Below, Jake Van der Berg waits beside his remote compound, a stranger bound to her by blood and court order. He's brought his sons: Noah with his easy smile that doesn't reach his eyes, and Kaleb, dark and silent as winter itself. The mountain peak becomes her prison and sanctuary, a place where civilization's rules dissolve like morning frost. As snow seals them away from the world below, Tiernan discovers that survival requires more than enduring the cold. In this isolated kingdom of broken men and buried secrets, she must navigate treacherous terrain between family and desire, between the hollow girl she was and the woman she's becoming. Some boundaries, once crossed in winter's embrace, can never be restored.

Chapter 1: Orphaned: From Hollywood Hills to Colorado Peaks

The tire swing hangs motionless in the morning air, a cruel reminder of laughter that was never meant for her. Police officers move through her parents' Bel Air mansion like ghosts cataloging the dead. Hannes and Amelia de Haas dressed for their final performance—Givenchy and Oscar de la Renta, as if death required the finest costumes. No note. No goodbye for the daughter they left behind. Mirai, her mother's assistant, finds Tiernan staring at the swing her father installed ten years ago. It was never really for Tiernan—just another prop in her parents' obsessive love story, a place where they could play at being young while their actual child watched from her bedroom window. Now even that illusion hangs lifeless. The phone call comes from Colorado. Jake Van der Berg's voice carries twenty years of estrangement, a man who hasn't spoken to his step-brother since their toxic falling-out. He offers her a choice—come to the mountain or face emancipation at seventeen. When he describes the isolation, months of being snowed in with only wind and waterfalls for company, something in Tiernan's chest loosens for the first time in years. She packs designer luggage and boards a plane to Denver, leaving behind the sterile perfection that never felt like home. As the aircraft climbs above Los Angeles smog, Tiernan presses her face to the window and watches her past shrink to nothing. She doesn't cry—hasn't cried since childhood—but something whispers that maybe she's finally going home. The mountain air hits like a physical force when she steps off the small plane. Jake Van der Berg stands waiting, weathered leather and suspicious eyes, flanked by his sons like wolves sizing up fresh prey. Noah offers charm and crystal blue eyes that hold mischief. Kaleb remains an enigma, appearing and disappearing like smoke, watching her with predatory stillness that makes her skin prickle. The compound feels like stepping into another century. No cell service, no neighbors for miles, just endless whisper of wind through pine trees. Her designer clothes mark her as foreign here, a hothouse flower transplanted into rocky soil. That first night, she dreams of white walls and empty spaces, waking to find herself crying. But there's no one to hear, and somehow that feels like the first honest thing she's experienced in years.

Chapter 2: Dangerous Territory: Forbidden Attractions in Isolation

Morning brings chores and the sharp realization that manicured hands weren't made for mountain life. Jake assigns her to chickens and barn work, his weathered face showing no mercy for her squeamishness. Noah laughs at her struggles, but there's hunger in his eyes that makes awareness prickle across her skin. His casual touches linger too long, his jokes exclude the others, creating intimacy she shouldn't want. Kaleb remains the mystery. He appears with fresh game slung over shoulders, blood under his fingernails, then vanishes into forest shadows. When he surfaces, it's with predatory stillness, never speaking, never explaining, just existing in her peripheral vision like a threat she can't name. The silence between them crackles with electricity she doesn't understand. The first crack comes during target practice. Jake's hands cover hers on the rifle, his breath warm against her ear as he adjusts her stance. The contact sends fire through her nervous system, a response that should horrify her but doesn't. When she hits the target, his rare smile feels like victory worth savoring. She catches him watching her with something darker than paternal concern. But it's Kaleb who breaks first. Late one night in the barn, he emerges from shadows like something wild. Suddenly she's pressed against a car hood, his mouth claiming hers with desperate hunger that terrifies and thrills her. His hands map her body like territory to be conquered, and she responds with passion that scares her. When Jake's voice cuts through darkness, calling for them, Kaleb vanishes like he was never there. The next morning they pretend nothing happened, but air crackles with unspoken possibilities. Noah's attention becomes bolder, more possessive. Jake's careful distance feels increasingly fragile. Winter approaches like a promise and threat, ready to seal them away from the world below. In this isolation, different rules apply, and Tiernan realizes she's become the catalyst for something that was always going to explode.

Chapter 3: Winter's Captivity: When Boundaries Dissolve in Snow

The first blizzard arrives like divine punishment, burying the compound under feet of snow and sealing them in their mountain prison. Roads become impassable, phones lose signal, and suddenly the house feels smaller, more intimate. Tiernan studies the men who've become her entire universe, learning their rhythms while they learn hers. Jake moves through his domain with quiet authority, but she catches glimpses of the man he used to be—younger, softer, before life carved away everything unnecessary. When he looks at her, recognition flickers there, as if she reminds him of someone lost. His lessons in fishing and shooting become excuses for contact, his chest pressed against her back as he guides her movements. Noah fills silence with chatter and music, his restless energy bouncing off walls like caged lightning. He teaches her to cook, standing behind her at the stove with dangerous intimacy, his voice low in her ear. The domesticity feels like playing house, but the heat between them is anything but innocent. When they're caught in the shower together—an accident that becomes something more—she realizes she's been starving for human connection. The breakthrough comes during an art project. Kaleb appears beside her like shadow, his calloused fingers covering hers as he guides the pencil. Together they blend colors, his thumb smudging pastels into something beautiful. For those stolen minutes, his silence feels like conversation. When she tells him about childhood drawings thrown away by parents who couldn't see past their perfect aesthetic, his lips brush her hair in what might be comfort. That night, she finds her discarded sketches taped to the refrigerator, rescued from trash and displayed like treasures. The message is clear—here, her creations matter. Here, she matters. But the gesture also marks a shift. The careful boundaries they've maintained begin crumbling, replaced by hunger that grows stronger with each passing day trapped together in their mountain sanctuary.

Chapter 4: Fire and Claiming: The Night Everything Changes

The kitchen becomes a battlefield of unspoken desire. Jake finds her there in pre-dawn darkness, and space between them crackles with electricity. His hands shake as he reaches for her, and she realizes this mountain man—this pillar of strength—is just as lost as she is. When he kisses her, it's with desperation of a drowning man, his mouth tasting of coffee and regret. They move together with clumsy urgency until reality crashes back and he pushes her away. "This can't happen," he says, but his eyes tell a different story. She sees the war raging behind them—duty against desire, protection against possession. When he walks away, she knows it's not the end but merely a pause in something inevitable. The barn burns like a beacon in darkness, flames reaching toward stars that offer no salvation. Tiernan runs toward danger instead of away, her only thought the horses trapped inside. The beam that catches her arm draws blood like a signature, marking her as truly theirs. In the aftermath, with her injured and bleeding, the brothers tend her wounds with efficiency of men who've learned to depend only on each other. Kaleb's hands shake as he threads the needle for stitches. His usual stoicism cracks, revealing the man beneath the silence. When pain becomes too much, he slaps her—not in anger but mercy, using shock to dull agony. Noah holds her steady while his brother works, their combined strength becoming her anchor. The stitching becomes a ritual of trust and surrender. What follows is inevitable as gravity. In Kaleb's room, with firelight painting their skin gold, she gives herself to both brothers with complete abandon. Noah's touch is playful where Kaleb remains wild and unpredictable. Together they create something new—not quite family, not quite lovers, but something uniquely theirs. The night stretches endless as winter itself, filled with whispered confessions and desperate caresses. When dawn breaks, she understands some boundaries, once crossed, can never be uncrossed.

Chapter 5: Breaking Point: Silence as Both Weapon and Shield

Jake's early return brings reality crashing back like cold water. His eyes take in the scene—his sons' satisfied exhaustion, her obvious contentment—and she waits for explosion that never comes. Instead, he tends her wounds with professional detachment, his silence more telling than any words. The careful balance of their arrangement shifts, becoming something more complex and dangerous. Days blur together in haze of domestic routine and stolen moments. Jake's touches become bolder, more possessive, as if he's finally accepting what was always inevitable. His mouth finds hers in shadowed hallways, his hands claiming her body with reverent desperation. She learns the geography of his scars while he maps her innocence with careful fingers. But it's the trip to town that shatters their fragile peace. The stares and whispers follow them through Chapel Peak's main street, and Tiernan realizes how their arrangement appears to others. When Cici Diggins approaches with her pregnant belly and knowing smile, implications about Kaleb's involvement send shockwaves through their unity. Kaleb's silence, once mysterious and compelling, becomes a weapon that cuts deeper than any words could. His refusal to defend himself or explain his past leaves Tiernan drowning in doubt and jealousy. The man she thought she understood reveals himself as enigmatic and unreachable as ever, his silence now a barrier rather than bridge between them. The confrontation forces her to examine her own role in their twisted dynamic. She's no longer innocent victim but active participant in something society would condemn. The realization that she might be just another conquest in a pattern of manipulation sends her fleeing back to familiar isolation. But the mountain house that once felt like prison now seems like the only place where she could be truly herself.

Chapter 6: Separation: The Price of Unspoken Truths

The final break comes not with violence but with quiet devastation of unspoken truths. When Mirai arrives to take her back to California, Kaleb makes no move to stop her. His silence, once source of mystery and attraction, becomes final proof that she means nothing more than temporary diversion. The ride down the mountain feels like funeral procession, every mile taking her further from the only place she's felt truly alive. Back in Los Angeles, surrounded by sterile perfection of inherited wealth, Tiernan tries to rebuild. She enrolls in design school, makes plans for the future, attempts to forget the mountain and men who showed her what passion could be. But the city feels hollow after raw honesty of mountain life, and she finds herself longing for wind through pine trees and warmth of bodies that knew her completely. Noah follows her to California, pursuing racing dreams but also serving as connection to the life she's left behind. Through him, she learns that Kaleb has retreated further into isolation, disappearing into wilderness like wounded animal. The knowledge that he's suffering too brings no comfort, only bitter realization that they're both too proud and damaged to bridge the gap between them. Months stretch into seasons, each day a small death of hope. Tiernan begins accepting that some loves are too dangerous to survive, that some connections burn too bright to last. But acceptance doesn't ease the ache of loss or quiet the voice whispering she's made the biggest mistake of her life. The separation becomes a test of will and endurance. In her childhood backyard, she stares at the empty tree where her father's tire swing once hung, remembering the hollow performances of her parents' love. She refuses to repeat their mistakes, to love someone who won't fight for her. But the refusal feels like dying by degrees, each day without Kaleb's presence another small surrender to emptiness.

Chapter 7: Finding Voice: The Journey Back to Each Other

The wilderness becomes Kaleb's confessor and teacher. In isolation of the fishing cabin, surrounded by nothing but forest and sky, he finally begins excavating his buried voice. The trauma that stole his words as a child—four days trapped in a car while his drug-addicted mother forgot his existence—has controlled him too long. He starts with books, reading aloud to empty cabin until his throat grows raw and his voice gains strength. Each word becomes small victory against silence that has defined him, each sentence a step toward the man he might become. The journals he's kept for years, hidden in margins of forgotten books, become his roadmap back to communication. When he learns that Tiernan believes he fathered another woman's child, that his silence has been interpreted as guilt rather than innocence, it finally gives him motivation to break free from his self-imposed prison. His journey to find her becomes pilgrimage of transformation. Each mile traveled from mountain fortress to alien landscape of California represents choice to engage with world rather than hide from it. The man who once couldn't bear to leave his sanctuary boards a plane and flies across country, driven by love stronger than fear. Meanwhile, Tiernan struggles with her own demons in therapy sessions that feel like archaeological digs through her damaged psyche. She learns to recognize the patterns of abandonment and neglect that shaped her, the ways her parents' toxic love story warped her understanding of relationships. But knowledge doesn't ease the longing for Kaleb's presence, the ache of incomplete connection. The revelation comes through Noah, who finally explains the truth about Cici's pregnancy and Kaleb's innocence. The misunderstanding that drove them apart crumbles like sand castles against tide of truth. But knowing the facts doesn't bridge the months of silence and pain, doesn't guarantee that love can survive the wounds they've inflicted on each other.

Chapter 8: Mountain Sanctuary: Building Love Beyond Convention

The sound of Kaleb's voice breaks through Tiernan's defenses like sunlight through storm clouds. Standing in her childhood backyard, hanging a tire swing from the same tree where her parents once played, he's no longer the silent, damaged boy who let trauma steal his words. His voice, rough from disuse but clear with purpose, carries weight of everything he's never been able to say. "My home is wherever you are," becomes the foundation upon which they begin rebuilding their shattered connection. Their reunion isn't fairy-tale ending but messy, complicated beginning of two damaged people choosing to heal together. Kaleb's newfound voice doesn't erase months of silence and misunderstanding, but it offers possibility of communication, of building something real from ashes of broken trust. The years that follow test their commitment in ways the mountain never could. They travel together, Tiernan pursuing her design career while Kaleb learns to navigate world beyond wilderness that shaped him. The birth of their son Griffin becomes catalyst for growth, forcing them both to confront their own childhoods and choose different paths for next generation. Jake and Noah find their own paths to happiness, family bonds strengthened rather than broken by unconventional love that brought them together. Mirai, once enemy of their mountain life, becomes unlikely ally and eventually finds her own connection to their chosen family. Even painful truth about Kaleb's mother's death becomes opportunity for forgiveness and closure. The mountain remains their anchor, the place they return to when world becomes too much. But they're no longer prisoners of its isolation or victims of its harsh demands. They've learned to carry their sanctuary within themselves, to create home wherever they choose to build it together. The compound that once felt like exile becomes foundation for something larger—a family defined not by blood or convention but by choice and commitment.

Summary

In the end, Tiernan de Haas discovers that home isn't a place but a feeling—the warmth of Jake's protective embrace, the joy of Noah's infectious laughter, the profound connection of Kaleb's hard-won words. The compound that once felt like exile becomes sanctuary, its isolation a blessing rather than curse. The men who seemed like strangers reveal themselves as the family she never had, their love unconventional but undeniably real. Kaleb's transformation from silent observer to active participant in his own life represents the possibility of healing even the deepest wounds. His journey to find his voice becomes testament to anyone who has ever felt silenced by trauma, circumstance, or fear. The mountain that once imprisoned him becomes foundation of his strength, the wilderness that taught him to survive also teaching him to thrive. Their story reminds us that sometimes the most dangerous journey is the one that leads us home to ourselves, and that love, in all its forms, remains the most powerful force for transformation in the human experience.

About Author

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Penelope Douglas

Douglas connects bold personal philosophies with daring literary themes, shaping narratives that push boundaries in the romance genre. Her novels, such as "The Fall Away Series" and "The Devil's Night Series," are rooted in first-person narratives, allowing readers to dive deeply into characters' immediate thoughts and emotions. This approach, combined with a penchant for exploring taboo subjects, sets Douglas apart. Her work thrives on meticulous character development, while music and life experiences, such as climbing Mt. Fuji and traveling extensively, fuel her creativity. This dynamic combination ensures her books offer more than just stories—they are immersive experiences.\n\nDouglas's readers benefit from her commitment to authenticity and emotional depth, which provide a unique perspective on contemporary and new adult romance. Her stand-alone titles, including "Misconduct" and "Birthday Girl," exemplify her dedication to breaking conventional literary rules, offering readers a fresh take on familiar tropes. Her international acclaim, with books translated into twenty languages and featured on bestseller lists like the New York Times and USA Today, speaks to her global impact. In this bio of an author unafraid to challenge norms, Douglas inspires readers to embrace life's complexities and live boldly through her compelling storytelling.

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