C.C. Bowen's Blog

���I don���t understand why you insist on working Saturday evenings—or at all, for that matter. If I didn���t know any better, I���d think you were purposely trying to avoid me.���

Although spoken in a teasing manner—later that evening, as Adelaide steps into the brisk night air and makes her way home, Ethan���s words come back to haunt her—because he���s right. She has been purposely avoiding him. And apparently Brandon disapproves as well, which hurts all the worse.

She thought she was strong enough to pull off this ridiculous charade—but it physically pains her to be anywhere near him. Even when in the same vicinity as Ethan, she feels the overwhelming urge to flee; to run as far and fast as her legs can carry her.

It���s a burden that���s starting to weigh her down into the deepest bowel���s of her own private hell.

There���s never a moment of peace back at the house, and there never will be again. Not while living under the same roof as him—in the room right across from him.

He���s so close. Always so close. Waiting and watching. Ever mindful.

Sometimes Adelaide swears he can see straight through her lies and know exactly what she���s thinking.

But surely, if threatened, he wouldn���t really kill her? It���s far too risky a move. And Brandon wouldn���t put her life at risk like that either. He swore to keep her safe, and she believes him when he says that. Yet the irony is not lost on her that he is also the one pushing her into the very danger he vows to shield her from.

The sad part is, all she wants is the one man she can never have; the one man she trusts completely.

It���s an awkward position for a young girl her age to be in.

Oh, how she longs to have the normal complications of a teenage life. But things with her are rarely��ever��that simple. That would be too ��� kind.

Perhaps this is fate���s way of getting even.

If she���s being honest with herself, it���s what she deserves.

Wasn’t happy with my original blurb. I didn’t feel that it was drawing in enough reader curiosity so I decided to completely rewrite the thing! Hope you all like it….

Helpful. Obedient.

Charming. Charismatic.

Psychopath. Killer.

Ethan Parker is all those things and more.

A master manipulator, he’s always been able to fool those around him of his true nature.

All but one: Brandon Rossi. Ex-detective.

He couldn’t prove a thing back then, and now he was a drunken waste of space. Yet, even when Ethan was an adolescent boy, he was somehow able to see straight past his mask to the ugliness that festered beneath.

He had slipped up recently, letting his dark urges get the best of him, and suddenly Brandon was on his trail again—like a hound on the loose seeking fresh blood.

His blood.

With Brandon’s wife and unborn child dead, he had nothing to lose. Even his dignity was lost to him. Nothing mattered but the case. Until, one day, a doe-eyed beauty stumbled upon the scene, changing the dynamics of the game entirely.

Ethan couldn’t believe his luck.

Slowly gaining Adelaide’s trust, he would soon enough have her heart as well. And, eventually, her money would grant him his freedom to live and be as he was while under the guise of loving husband.

Naively thinking he was in perfect control of the situation—molding the ideal future for himself—a secret alliance was beginning to form between Adelaide and Brandon.

The plan was to expose Ethan for the vile monster that he truly is. However, neither got what they bargained for as their working relationship turned into an unlikely romance; a forbidden romance. One that just might be the death of them both.

WARNING: This is a dark, gritty thriller centered around an unconventional love story. It is raw, emotional, graphic, and sexual.