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 ...

He let the truck idle and waited to see what would happen. Matthews all but threw his wife into the vehicle and slammed the door closed. Then he stalked to the driver’s side and opened the door.


Makai couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the man seemed fixated on his wife, yelling at her as he climbed in. Makai was glad he’d driven a bit to the side of the lot when he decided to wait to see what the Matthewses would do, when Frank reversed his car from the lot and dashed past Makai in a mad rush.


Makai had just enough time to see the man’s face. Everything went cold inside his chest and stomach. He’d seen that expression before in prison. It was the look of a man who was about to kill someone.


Chapter 69