Twisted Heart preview

It is 22 days until Twisted Hearts releases on Amazon! To say I'm excited is an understatement. I'm thrilled!

To celebrate, here is a small excerpt from the new book. I hope you enjoy it! And if you haven't already, you can pre-order it now!

To pre-order a signed paperback copy (with a little exclusive merch), click here!

To pre-order an ebook copy from Amazon, click here!

Here is an excerpt from the prologue. Enjoy!

Jillian ran to the stables. Neveah was sleeping in her bed down the hall, and she didn’t want the girl to wake up and come looking for them. 

William wasn’t far behind her. He didn’t run after her, exactly. Instead, he calmly entered the stables, swinging the barn door closed behind him. He barred it closed, and flicked on the lights. Jillian was in the last stable, as far from him as she could get. Sunbeam was in the middle stall, and she’d gone still. Her big brown eyes rolled with anxiety and Jillian’s own heart was hammering in her chest. 

He knows! The thought beat its own staccato in her mind, panicking her. He knows! He knows!

Jillian had been collecting information on William for months. She had been careful. She had been so, so careful. But he was angry with her, so he must have found out. She gritted her teeth against the fear welling up in her chest.

“Jillian, my dearest,” William intoned softly. He paused to stroke Sunbeam’s muzzle. “Come out and speak to me.” 

Jillian’s breath was fast, but she stiffened her spine, forced her hands to relax, and stepped out of the stable. The man she had married did not turn toward her, merely stood there stroking their daughter’s horse.

“I’m so disappointed in you,” he said softly. He still hadn’t looked at her. Jillian forced herself to be still, but mentally she was cataloging the room. He stood between her and the door. There was an open window in the stall, but she’d have to vault herself up to get out. There was a board leaning against the wall nearest her, but it was awkwardly long. Too long to really use as a weapon. Maybe she could shove it over as an obstacle. Maybe that would buy her enough time to get out the window. A quick glance told her she had little other options. 

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” William asked.

“Find out what, my love?” Jillian asked. She schooled her expression to neutral, told herself to soften her spine. William rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

“About Conner. What else could I be talking about?”

Jillian froze again. He didn’t know about the spying, then? 

“What about Conner?” Jillian asked. She knew exactly what he was talking about, and it wasn’t going to be much better in his eyes than her spying. She had a son, one she’d borne before they got together. She had been so young and alone in the world, her father recently deceased. William had offered to take her in, as long as he didn’t have to raise her child, too. He had gotten Conner into a good home, with a family better able to take care of him than she ever could alone. A better mother than she knew how to be. She had hated herself for taking the deal every day since. Jillian shifted her feet closer to the board, preparing to kick it and spring for the open window.

William surprised her though. He rushed her, walking her quickly back to the wall and pressing her there. His hands pinned her arms down at her sides and his nose almost touched hers. 

“You’ve been sending your bastard money!” William growled. “My money! For months now!” 

She was scared, but not scared enough. She’d never quite learned how to cower properly.

“I figured you have extra to spare. Since so much is going to your whoring, what’s a little more for my bastard?” Jillian spat at him.

William shook her hard. Her head bounced off the wall, jarring her vision. She shook herself, trying to break his hold on her. The girl she’d been, the one no one could land a hit on, was still inside her somewhere. But her advantage had always been her speed. William was too strong. He held her firm.

William’s pupils dilated, his cheeks reddened. He was closer to losing control than she’d realized.

He might actually kill me, Jillian realized. She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow she knew was coming.

William cried out.

Jillian’s eyes flew open and she saw that a hawk had flown into the barn through the open window and even now its talons were tearing into his thrown up hands.

Jillian didn’t wait. She ran toward the open window, grabbed the lower ledge and vaulted herself up and out the window head-first. When her body cleared the opening, she tucked and flipped over, landing on her feet. Without waiting, she ran. 

The woods were at hand and provided easy cover. She disappeared into them before William could leave the stables. 

Heart pounding, Jillian crouched under cover and listened. Above her, wings fluttered. When she looked, it was not a bird, but Ruth looking back.

“Ruth!” Jillian cried. “It was you!”

“I could not let him hurt you,” Ruth said, coming close to embrace her. She was stunned. She did not know Ruth was so close, or that she knew what went on in their home.

“How did you know?” Jillian asked. Her hands were shaking. Shame, she realized. She was ashamed to have been found in such a vulnerable state. Ashamed to need rescuing.

Ruth frowned at her. 

“I’ve always known. You play a dangerous game, Jillian. You shouldn’t have to face it alone.”

Jillian’s heart was hammering in her ears, but her eyes wandered. It was a dark night, but in the distance, something glowed bright and orange.

“Ruth,” Jillian said, pointing. Ruth turned, and together they ran. They were thinking the same thing.

Nathan’s house.

➼➼➼

They were too late. When the two women arrived on the scene, Nathan’s home was hopelessly burning. Abigail and her two sons were in the yard, and Nathan’s boy was on his knees, tears streaming down his face.

“Where is Nathan?” Jillian asked. Ruth met her eyes and Jillian saw they had gone large as saucers. “Where is Nathan?”

Without a word, Ruth shrank down and bounded away as a black cat. Jillian watched, wishing she could follow.

Jillian stayed all night. She watched Nathan’s son cry. She watched the police, the fire department and an ambulance all arrive. She watched Abigail drag her oldest son away from the fire.

Jillian was still there when the emergency workers pulled what remained of Nathan’s body out of the smoldering house. 

It was dawn when Jillian walked back into her own home. William was already at work, paying her little attention. Neveah was eating breakfast in the kitchen. Jillian took a moment to take in her bright smile, her sticky fingers. Jillian thought she might never take a breath again. Then she leaned against William’s office door.

“Nathan is dead,” she said. 

William froze. He looked up from his work to peer at her carefully over his desk. William knew. Of course, he knew. Jillian had loved Nathan for as long as she could remember. Everyone knew, except Nathan himself. 

Still, William wasn’t a kind man. Where her father would have comforted her, even awkwardly, William merely nodded.

“I’ll send flowers to Abigail with our condolences.”