Look for this book in Kindle, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
How many promises will she have to break?
Jessica Haddow is trying to get her college degree after six years of paying her way through classes, but when a greedy company buys and threatens to evict her entire neighborhood, including the church where her parents’ graves are located, her attention turns to fighting the injustice. Jess takes a job with the development firm in hopes of changing the boss’s mind about his plans for the land, but when he doesn’t budge, she resorts to trying to take the company down from the inside out. When Jess learns that her new boss isn’t as horrible as she first believed, she must make a heart-breaking choice to avoid becoming the monster she’d set out to destroy.
Keep scrolling to read the first chapter of this book.
Prologue
Seven Years Ago
NO ONE heard Jessica Haddow cry.
Not that it mattered. No one heard her scream, either. No one came to the rescue.
And now it was too late.
Here she was in the dim spring twilight, tripping over stumps, roots, and fallen branches.
Cursing her high heels. Holding up her torn gown as she followed parallel to the road, shadowed by a thick barrier of foliage. Eyes darting over her shoulder at every roar of a motor, heart racing as if she were a wild rabbit caught in a trap.
A prayer stuck in her throat and came out as a wail. Tears and dirt mingled on her cheeks.
Why?
But there was no answer. No consolation.
Nothing.
She limped on, stopping more than once to retch in piles of long-dead leaves until she found a back road that looked familiar.
Another mile and she’d be home.
Allowing an icy numbness to crust over her heart, she trudged onward as darkness smothered her vision. Chills ran down her bare arms, and she shivered.
When she finally reached her front door, she unlocked the deadbolt and let herself in.
Shower.
Long after the water ran cold and the bar of soap shriveled to an unusable nub, she twisted the faucet handle and watched the liquid swirl down the tub’s drain.
She dried herself with a fresh towel from the cupboard under the sink and crawled into a clean pair of pajamas. The grimy sensation remained despite the scrubbing, and the overwhelming urge to jump in the shower again almost won over the knowledge that it would do no good.
What she needed now was a friend.
Grabbing the phone, she dialed the only person she could confide in.
Pick up. Please, pick up.
“Hello?” The greeting was happy and carefree, shouted into the receiver above laughter and music booming in the background. Two hours ago, she would have answered the phone in the same way.
She pulled her fingers through her knotted hair and struggled to tamp her emotions to a place deep inside her heart.
“Anyone there? Hello?”
Unable to speak, she hung up and dropped the phone on the floor, silent sobs shaking her body.