Some secrets are painted over. Others are buried in blood.
Ethan Clarke accepts what should be a straightforward job: restore a damaged portrait at Ashford Manor, a crumbling English estate with more secrets than his client is willing to share. As a specialist in bringing damaged art back to life, he's used to uncovering what's hidden beneath layers of paint and time. But nothing prepared him for what he'd find at Ashford-or for Julian.
Julian Ashford is the reluctant heir to a legacy he's spent years trying to escape. Estranged from his family and haunted by his grandfather's mysterious past, he's returned to the manor searching for answers about a man who died fifty years ago-a death ruled accidental that Julian suspects was murder. When Ethan begins examining the portrait, he discovers something that could prove Julian's theory: evidence deliberately concealed beneath layers of paint.
As they work together to uncover the truth, Ethan and Julian find themselves drawn to each other in ways neither expected. Late nights in the art studio. Whispered conversations in sealed wings of the mansion. The dangerous intimacy of shared secrets. But the manor's current masters-Julian's mother Victoria and the family solicitor Marcus Halloway-will do anything to keep the past buried, including threatening Ethan's life to force Julian's compliance.
Their investigation leads them to a hidden ledger, journals filled with tormented confessions, and the discovery of the Circle Council: a secret organization that has controlled the county through corruption and violence for over half a century. Julian's grandfather wasn't just a murderer-he was coerced into killing his best friend to protect his son. And now the Circle wants Julian to take his grandfather's place, to continue the legacy of corruption that has poisoned three generations.
When Marcus springs his trap, Julian must choose between his freedom and Ethan's life. As the mansion burns around them and authorities finally arrive, they realize that some things can't be restored-they can only be torn down and rebuilt from honest foundations.
The Restoration is a gothic MM romantic thriller about two men who find love while exposing a conspiracy that spans generations. Featuring forced proximity, danger as catalyst for romance, a crumbling English manor hiding dark secrets, mutual protection, first love declarations amid violence, chosen family over blood, and a tender relationship that proves some things are worth burning the past to protect.
