Sinner
A Northbridge Nights Novel
By Jackie Wang
Genre: Romantic Suspense/Mystery
Release Date:
July 22, 2017
First,
he broke my heart. Then, he ripped it out of my chest.
Fifteen
years ago, Beckett Longstead broke up with me, then disappeared.
One
stormy night, he shows up at my doorstep bloodied and bruised, begging me for
help.
I
should’ve shut the door in his face. Should’ve left him to bleed.
But
instead, I take him in and fix him, just like when we were teenagers.
Beckett
has secrets, though, and everything about him screams guilt.
He’s
hiding something terrible, but he won’t tell me what.
He
claims he can’t remember. That he has amnesia.
He’s
sick, plagued by nightmares, and his memory loss troubles me.
But
he’s got no one else.
So
against my better judgment, I welcome him into my home, and back into my
vulnerable heart.
Little
did I know, his sins would destroy us.
Little
did I know, his secrets would ruin everything.
When I think
about his broken face, I can hardly breathe.
I’m worried that
if I exhale, he will be gone forever.
An overexposed
photograph in my disjointed mental album.
Why can’t I
rearrange that night’s events, put them in order?
I can remember
the texture of his rough hands, the way they squeezed my shoulder that
day.
Hard enough to
hurt.
But I can’t see
his eyes anymore. They’ve been replaced by cruel black holes.
“Beckett, let me
go.”
He had been
miserable and trapped, but at least he’d been safe.
I thought I was
offering him freedom, but I was wrong.
So fucking
wrong.
When I think
about the years I spent loving him, nurturing him, living with him, I’d trade
everything I had for an extra hour.
An hour where
we’d read silently, side by side, until his tired head lolled and rested on my
shoulder.
Just like old
times.
Then I’d watch
his fragile chest shudder as he struggled to breathe, and think about how
grateful I was to have met him.
How grateful I
was that he saved me and breathed life into an orphan who should’ve floundered,
but thrived instead.
How grateful I
was that for a few precious years, when it was just him and me, I was sublimely
happy.
When I think
about all the blood and tears, all the hissing and all that warped metal, I
know I’ll burn in hell with all the other sinners.
And I’d welcome
its gaping maw with open arms and thank God for punishing me.
But instead of
casting me through the gates of Hell, God played a cruel trick on me.
He made me
forget everything. He made me forget all my sins.
Then, He
reunited me with my first love, and gave me a glimpse of hope, a taste of
renewed happiness.
Only to take it
all away a few weeks later, and ruin me all over again.
Jackie Wang lives
in Vancouver, Canada with her real-life alpha hero and their rambunctious
daughter. When she’s not writing, Jackie is binge-reading, gorging on expensive
chocolates, or fiddling around with Photoshop.
No comments:
Post a Comment