Brighter When Broken

In a basement thick with the stench of blood and betrayal, Lachlan Kelley-Mayer awakens to a nightmare. Chained to a rusted mattress, her body bruised and her heirloom wedding ring stolen, she realizes her husband, Jack, has orchestrated her kidnapping—a five-million-dollar ransom for a life he's already written off. 

But Lachlan is no pawn. A philanthropist with a razor-sharp mind and a lifetime of parsing Jack's lies, she turns survival into a lethal game. With her captors—Marek, a mercenary with a wintermint smile, and Jenna, a reluctant accomplice—Lachlan dances on a knife's edge, unraveling Jack's web of offshore accounts and hollow vows. 

Flashbacks of their opulent marriage—diamond pendants, charity galas, and whispered threats—fuel her resolve. 

A pulse-pounding thriller of marital deceit and the ghosts of trust, Brighter When Broken asks, "How far would you go to burn the person who vowed to love you?" 

-- Julie Grayson