♦ ♦ ♦

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮: 𝙝𝙞𝙨, 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝.  Rozelyn De Falco has been branded an enemy and captured by the Corsetti family, intent to torture her father’s location from her. But Rozelyn has her own plans, and being imprisoned is merely one she already has in place.

Flynn Rhodes, enforcer of the Corsetti family, gains more than just a captive in Rozelyn. He finds his past. A girl he cared for when they both had different lives. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙚, and Flynn only cares about vengeance and the oaths he’s taken. 𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙, 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩.

♦ ♦ ♦

♦ ♦ ♦

Days pass but I don’t know how many. I try to count the visits as I’m provided food and allowed out for the bathroom, but they seem to happen at different times, making tracking difficult.

Either way, it’s not Flynn who comes down anymore. Instead, two other soldiers alternate, and they barely glance at me, and they don’t speak to me other than to command me up the stairs and position a gun at my back as they walk me to a bathroom in the main hall, which makes me wonder why Flynn’s always brought me to his from the very first instance.  

I’ve asked about Flynn’s whereabouts, but they pretend not to hear me. This is a daily activity now.

Other than during their visits, the basement’s lights are kept off, but thankfully, I never return to that dark place I went to the last time I was alone for an extended length of time.

In the silence, my mind travels a lot. It relives everything Dad ever did to me. His malicious means of training me for this. His cruel ways of raising me to be his soldier rather than his daughter.

“Fight him.” Dad flicks his fingers to one of the soldiers he’s brought to the training room. A mountain-sized man with biceps as wide as my head, height that towers two feet above me, and a menacing snarl that says he’d eat me for breakfast if given the chance.

“You’re kidding me?” I look from Dad to the solider and back. At twenty-four, this isn’t the first soldier he’s had me train against, but no one like this. “I’ll lose. More so, he’ll break me.”

“Attack,” Dad commands. “Before he does.”

I didn’t move for almost a week afterwards. His soldier took me down in less than a minute, bruising my back.

He never taught me enough to fight back against him. Or, somehow I was hardwired unable to do so. Maybe because I was already in the monster’s web, and his training never exactly got me into the fighting shape it should have.

The single time I tried to block his incoming hit, I paid for the act of defiance.

The basement door opens and shuts again, taking me from the latest trip through my hellish memories. It feels like it’s only been an hour since they brought me to the bathroom so I can’t help but be dismayed that I’ve clearly lost an entire night. Time is slipping faster and faster away. Not sure if that’s positive or not…

Through the darkness, I’m able to make out the shape of who comes down and it’s not either of the men. It’s also not someone new. I know his figure as well as I know my own.

He doesn’t approach, so I don’t move from the sleeping bag I’ve dragged to the centre of the room. Being unchained means having access to these luxuries he once teased me with.

I wait for him to speak, counting sixty seconds, and wonder if he’s also waiting for me to begin. Uncomfortable silence, is it?

Eventually, he sits right at the base of the stairs, his back against the far wall so he’s facing me. His legs stretch out in front of him, crossing at the ankles. That’s all I’m able to make out though, and I wish he’d turn on the light so I can see his face. A long sigh follows, signaling the break in silence.

♦ ♦ ♦

Read the First Chapter HERE!

USA Today Bestselling author M.L. Philpitt writes both dark romance and paranormal romance. When she’s not writing made-up realities, she’s reading them. She lives in Canada with her four pets and survives life with coffee and an obsession with fictional characters, especially the morally grey kind. By day, she masks herself as a therapist, and is still waiting for her Hogwarts letter so she can be sorted into her Ravenclaw house.

♦ ♦ ♦

♦ ♦ ♦

𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘁

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙.

We will not stand by while one of our own is in the enemy’s grasp.

Ivy and I are part of the house now, and their family is our family. 𝙏𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠.

This mission nearly brings Blackstone down. We missed our mark, and now it’s

𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘥.

Though our families are prepared for the unthinkable, we will not take this lying down.

𝗗𝗿. 𝗜𝘃𝘆 𝗞𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁

Ty and I have a good connection, 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙣.

Regardless of my personal struggles, I know one thing is true.

The house is in disarray, and it’s up to me to keep everyone on point.

But deep inside, 𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜. I need to find a way to get my life back.

Shadows has a mixture of light and laughter, but there’s a level of danger that comes with living here. I just hope I’m strong enough to endure.

♦ ♦ ♦

J.L. Drake is a bestselling author with multiple series published in several countries. The Broken Trilogy is her bestseller, and her next series, Dark Water runs deep into the Broken and Blackstone world.

She was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, and later moved to southern California. Though she loves the weather in Cali, she would sell her left kidney for a good rainstorm. Jodi’s love of the seasons back home in Canada definitely put an appearance in her books.

When she’s not writing, you can often find her sitting somewhere along the coast of Huntington Beach, reading, or at home curled up on a couch with her two children and husband, binge-watching Marvel movies.

♦ ♦ ♦

♦ ♦ ♦