When investigative writer Morgan Raines returns to her hometown of Newport Beach after two decades away, she intends only to confront the ghosts of her past. But when a long-lost photograph reveals a shadowy figure watching her and her best friend Lena Maddox the night Lena vanished in 1999, Morgan is pulled into a hidden world beneath the city’s coastal perfection. Working with determined but disillusioned detective Elias Verdan, Morgan uncovers a clandestine network known as the Mariner’s Pact, a multigenerational society tied to offshore smuggling, arson-for-profit schemes, and ritual meetings held beneath Newport’s cliffs. As storms batter the coast and old tunnels flood, Morgan discovers her own repressed memory: she saw Lena the night she disappeared, and ran. Now, a new girl has vanished, repeating the pattern. With evidence surfacing from sunken boats, underground chambers, and whispered confessions, Morgan must confront Ethan Baxter, her former love and the heir to a corrupt dynasty. The closer she gets to the truth, the more the Pact closes in, determined to silence her like they silenced Lena. In a final battle against rising tides and buried guilt, Morgan must decide whether exposing the truth is worth risking her life… or whether some secrets are meant to stay submerged. A coastal mystery-thriller steeped in memory, betrayal, and storm-torn justice, The Secrets Below Newport blends emotional depth with relentless suspense, revealing that even the calmest waters can hide the darkest crimes.