Showing results for "Briar Rose" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

DCI Kett is back, heading Norfolk Constabulary’s brand-new Extreme Crime Task Force. And it’s just in time. The body of a woman bound in thorns has been discovered in Norwich’s historic Cow Tower. In her mouth is a severed finger wrapped in a scrap of red cloth, and the first few lines of a fairy tale. “Once upon a time, a young maiden waited to be saved from a hideous monster.” The finger belongs to another missing woman, and if Kett, Porter and Savage want to find her alive they must follow a chain of blood-drenched riddles, each victim leading to the next.

He'll never let me go. I'll never stop running. I’m unbreakable. So, when the bratva try to get me to throw my championship fight, I flip them one middle finger. Then two. After I’ve decimated their opponent and pummeled him into the ground. I’m surrounded, outmanned, outgunned. My only option is to fight my way out. I think I’m all alone until a familiar voice says, “Play fair now. The lady gets to beat you, one at a time."

“I do.” Words I never thought would escape my lips. Now they bound me to the charismatic head of the Volkov Bratva, Nikolai Volkov. His mesmerizing blue eyes, charming smile, and silky smooth voice would be my downfall, and yet, also my salvation. The two simple words would also be a personal vow to destroy my stepmother and enemies. If I’m forced to be bound to the mafia life forever then I’ll show them all. I’ll show them how far this ‘angel’ has fallen. I’m not a pawn like they all think.

1908, Long Island: For Millie Turner, the young wife of a powerful New York stockbroker, Rose Briar Hall—a gleaming edifice of white marble on the North Shore—is more than a home. Every detail speaks of Charles Turner's wealth, and its interior is testament to Millie's sophistication. All that's left is to prove her worthiness to be his bride. What better way than to throw a grand party for New York's social elite? After painstaking planning, the night of the event arrives and all is perfection—until Millie wakes to a cold, eerily quiet house, and a gray cloud where her memory should be.

After breaking free from the gilded cage of my abusive marriage, I have nothing to my name but a letter from a long-lost relative. Come home, Willow. Your family is waiting for you. I sacrificed everything to flee for the tiny town of Briar Valley and its promise of a better life for my young daughter. Hope often takes the unlikeliest of forms, but I didn't expect to find it nestled among the rugged, snow-capped mountains. Nor did I intend to surrender my heart to three tortured mountain men hiding from their own grief in the thick forest of pine trees.

I've spent my entire life running. No more. The past is finally catching up to me, and my secrets won't stay buried as trouble looms on the horizon. I must face the monster who spent a decade torturing me. For myself. My daughter. The countless other victims that he silenced with his brutality. This town gave me everything. I have to protect it, or I'll lose the ones I love forever.

The further he gets from Anya, the more certain he feels that he can’t let his guard down like that again. His family needs him more than ever, and Anya deserves someone who is devoted, who can be there for her the way he can’t. But in letting Anya go, will he sacrifice his heart?

I never meant to fall in love with her. Once, we were friends on the brink of something more, but my life took a turn, and I had to disappear. Now, I’m back, but picking up where we left off is impossible. There’s someone new in her life - someone who doesn’t deserve her. And I’m keeping a secret that if exposed will ruin any chance I have to win her back.