About the Book

A decade ago, Beckett Wallace buried her husband after a tragic plane crash.

Case closed. Grief buried. Life rebuilt.

Until an unmarked envelope appears on her doorstep containing evidence that the crash wasn’t an accident.

The proof is chilling. The implications are deadly.

And someone out there will do anything to keep the truth buried.

With no one else she can trust, Beckett turns to the last man she ever wanted to see again.

Detective Shawn Sampson is gruff, guarded, and relentlessly precise—and he hasn’t forgotten the sharp-tongued lawyer who nearly destroyed his last undercover operation. He doesn’t want to help her. He doesn’t trust her. And he definitely doesn’t want to reopen a cold case that powerful people are desperate to keep closed.

But the evidence is real.

And the danger is closer than either of them realizes.

Forced into an uneasy partnership, Beckett and Shawn follow a trail of secrets that leads straight into a deadly conspiracy. As threats escalate and shadows close in, the tension between them grows impossible to ignore.

Shawn is trained to protect.

Beckett is determined to uncover the truth.

And neither of them is prepared for how quickly their investigation turns personal.

Because solving her husband’s murder may cost Shawn more than his badge.

It may cost him his heart.

____________________

Read an excerpt from Critical Velocity

“Do you remember what happened?”

She swallows hard. “I came back, and someone was here.” Reaching up, she touches her throat. It’s covered by a turtleneck, so I can’t see much, but it’s clearly bothering her.

“Are you wearing something under your sweater?”

She nods, then reaches down to lift it over her head. I help, trying to keep her from moving too fast. When it’s tossed aside, I kneel again and brush the hair from her neck.

The moment I see the handprints branded into her skin—an ugly, dark red and splotchy—an unfamiliar level of rage burns hot and fast through me.

She was strangled.

I have to take a calming breath in order to formulate a rational thought. Focus, Sampson. She needs you focused. “Did you see who did this?”

Her body begins to tremble, and tears fill her eyes. “No. I didn’t. It was dark.”

“Come here.” I pull her against me and wrap my arms around her as she crumbles. Her shoulders shake, her entire body quivering while she realizes just how close she came to dying tonight.

The truth is: I’m shaken up, too.

Consumed with the idea that I came so close to losing what was never really mine.