Well, four days early, Retribution went live on Amazon in record time - I uploaded, blow dried my hair, and voila! It was kind of crazy especially since I wasn't scheduled to release until Tuesday the 12th! But hey, better this way than waiting two days.
Here's a preview of the book...
Prologue
Adam
For the sixth day this week, I watched Elle Vega walk out of
the trendy café, wave good-bye to her friends, and climb into her shiny, new VW
Bug. Yellow. Compliments of Daddy, no doubt. I knew for a fact she had a Mini
sitting in the garage at home, too, but she wouldn’t bring that around this
group. No, she had to maintain the appearance she was like them. Like her
friends. She’d then take the long way to her condo in the West Village. Tiny,
charming, absurdly overpriced. Perfect for the rich little bitch.
“Mr. Smith, can I get you anything else?” Mary asked, the dark
circles under her eyes betraying her fatigue. She’d been serving me the same
thing every day for the past six days — a double espresso and a slice of apple
pie.
I took my wallet out. “No, thank you, Mary. What’s the
damage?” I already knew. It’d be less than ten bucks, but I dug out a
fifty-dollar bill anyway.
“Here you go,” she said, handing me the check.
I glanced at it before slipping the fifty into the little
pocket folder. “That should cover it.”
“Oh, no, sir, it’s really too much.”
I closed my hand over hers to stop her from giving it back.
“How’s Kyle doing, by the way? Things settle down at school?” She was a twenty
year old single mom working two jobs, one of which paid below the minimum wage.
Fucking ridiculous how, here in the United States of America, one of the
wealthiest fucking countries in the world, we have kids like this raising their
own kids, struggling to put food on the table.
She smiled, knowing she needed the money. Knowing I knew it.
“Kyle’s good, and, yes, it’s going better. The bigger kids stopped teasing him,
it seems. His teacher’s pretty nice, actually.”
I smiled back at her. “Good. I’m glad to hear it,” I said,
standing. “Oh, one more thing.” I took a business card out of my wallet and
handed it to her. “I’ll be going out of town for a while, but if you ever need
anything, don’t be a stranger.” She was a good kid. Got a shit lot in life, but
a good kid.
Her nose reddened and her eyes moistened. “Thanks, Mr.
Smith. You’re a great guy.”
I almost chuckled, wondering if she’d think that if she knew
the reason for my daily visits.
I dug the keys out of my suit pocket and went around the
corner to where I’d parked my Harley. People turned to stare as I climbed on.
It was only natural, I supposed, to watch a big guy in a three-piece suit,
wearing shoes costing more than most made in a month, ride a fucking Harley
through town. The bike was the only part of the past I brought into my present.
The rest I’d return to later, when it was done.
I followed the little yellow bug from some distance away,
although I didn’t need to tail her. I knew where she lived. I knew what she
ate. Where she did her dry cleaning. Who she socialized with. Who she fucked —
although that was surprisingly infrequent. I knew the contents of her underwear
drawer. Knew what kind of vibrator she liked and how often she used it. And,
today, I’d meet Elle Vega face-to-face. I’d introduce myself as her new
neighbor, and I’d steal her life, just like they’d stolen mine.
Payback’s a bitch — or it would be for Elle.
Fifteen years ago, my sister was kidnapped. For months, she’d endured hell. Somehow, she’d survived it. Someway, she’d escaped her captors. But it hadn’t mattered. In fact, it had been like losing her twice, because six weeks after she came home, she was dead, and the man responsible was alive and well, oblivious to her fate, ignorant to what he had coming.
Fifteen years I’d been waiting for this moment, all that time, planning, preparing, readying to put things into motion. To finally make the SOB pay for what he’d done.
Killing him was too easy. Too quick. No. There was a much better way to exact revenge.
Take what he loved best.
Break it.
Break her.
I just didn’t realize that in the process of destroying the girl, I’d destroy myself.
“I only want your pain.”
I hadn’t understood what those words meant, not really. Not until he made me understand.
I noticed Adam the very first day he moved into my building. He was a badass on a bike in a thousand-dollar suit. When he looked at me, it was with a hunger just this side of obscene.
Our meetings were strange, accidental. Too coincidental. There was something about Adam. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.
Something I couldn’t resist.
He told me I didn’t know him. He warned me to run as far from him as I could. He was moody. Dark. I’d found it romantic. I didn’t know, and I wouldn’t realize until it was too late that he’d meant for me to heed his warnings. That some part of him had hoped I would run, that I would escape him.
For too many years, vengeance had fueled him. It had taught him hate. The object of that hate? My father. And me? I was the means to my father’s end. Adam would destroy my father by destroying me.
I accused him of being a monster, of being no different than those who took his sister, but even in the harshest moments, all I could see in his eyes was pain. And like a fool, all I wanted was to touch that darkness.
To make it light.
Retribution is a full-length, complete Dark Romantic Suspense novel. No Cliffhanger. Intended for mature readers for sexual situations, BDSM (dub-con).
Will be available in other stores soon!
