Can two broken men build one life? Ten years. That’s what Makai lost for a crime he didn’t commit. He’s been exonerated, but the abuse he suffered in prison isn’t so easy to leave behind. He heads to the one place he remembers being happy: Acker, Wisconsin, where he spent summers with his grandpa. Unfortunately, not everyone wants Makai there. Ten days. That’s how long Emil, now twenty-one, was held prisoner as a teenager. The mental and physical injuries he suffered at the hands of a drug trafficking ring still haunt him. Nightmares, anxiety, and PTSD challenge the connection forming between Makai and Emil, though together, they might find a way to move beyond their pain and into a future -- and a relationship -- that both had thought impossible. Now they just have to convince Emil’s father, the town sheriff. It won’t be easy with danger closer than they know ...

“Yeah?” Emil said, hoping this wasn’t what he thought it would be.


Dad looked tired, he was just off shift, so it made sense, but there was a weariness in his eyes too.


“Hey, son.” He stepped in but then leaned back on the doorframe, as if hoping it would help prop him up.


“Yeah. Frank and Lizzie again.” Dad sighed and rubbed a hand over his face


“She didn’t press charges this time, either?”


“No, and it was just a noise complaint, but everyone could see something had been going on.”


Emil hummed. Everyone in town knew Frankie liked to beat his wife, but nobody ever caught him doing it, and she didn’t talk about it. Not even when she had to have a broken arm set a couple of years ago. She’d told everyone she’d fallen down the porch steps at their house. Fallen, maybe. But how?


Chapter 22