★★★★★ Could. Not. Put. This. Down!

Chilling sights and committed sins haunt his dreams, but there is only more to come.

James Turner is not one to shove his emotions in a bottle, but his current circumstances have rendered bottling a necessity. The harrowing memory that looms in his mind—the crime committed months prior with his chosen family in a desperate act of survival—is rarely, if ever, spoken of. After all, it seems far easier for everyone to simply go on with their everyday lives in an attempt to drown out the noise that no doubt lingers above them.

True solace evades him, though, and who weighs on his shoulders nearly as heavily is the one he shouldn’t want. A close friend’s little sister. The one that he knows should be forbidden. Cassie Cohen.

The woman who is almost a decade his junior and secretly working as an exotic dancer has burrowed her way under his skin. Neatly placed within his friend group and having experienced the same living nightmare, she is more than familiar with all that could chill one to the bone. Bonded in trauma, the pair share a connection that is impossible to ignore.

As life would have it, though, their adversity is yet to end. The small town that they reside in is covertly being shaken to its core. Rumor has it that women—some of them dancers—are going missing.

James and Cassie’s past is intertwined…and so is their future.

TW: Mentions of childhood abuse, suicide, stalking, and murder. Depictions of kidnapping and methods of torture.

Author's Note for Tropes & Themes:

Found family

Small town

Age gap

Trauma bonds

Spicy!

Banter, banter, banter

Missing women

Heavy feels & big emotions

Thriller-level suspense