Excerpt from the Book
“Shush, now, don’t listen to what the other girls say. You can be anything you want to be.”
Avery winced and hurried to open the studio door. Her foster mom had once told her the same thing.
You can be anything you want to be.
Eleven-year-old Avery had believed Mrs. Casale. Thirty-one-year-old Avery was doubting if she should’ve.
After checking in at the front desk and confirming she was Bella Ricci’s guest, Avery cracked open the studio door and slid inside. On the large open floor, an instructor conducted a class of maybe two dozen miniature ballerinas, while parents and guardians watched from the comfort of cushioned chairs and couches offset by mahogany coffee tables.
Her gaze landed on Bella’s dark, wavy hair that fell below her shoulders. She was on her phone, no doubt working remotely with real estate clients during Gianna’s lesson. If only Bella’s brother Anthony could have pursued a respectable living and not been sucked into the crowd that had ruined his reputation, broken Mrs. Casale’s heart—and ultimately taken his life.
As if sensing her, Bella glanced up and smiled. Her former foster sister’s genuine smile doubled the knot in her stomach. Avery had failed her again.
Bella motioned for Avery to join her on the velvety blue couch and circled an arm around Avery’s waist. “Thank you for coming. I wish we could grab coffee somewhere, but this is the last free time I have on the calendar today.”
Avery resisted the urge to pull away. Bella was one-hundred-and-ten percent Italian, like her mother, and physical touch was a way of life to her. She had never understood Avery’s resistance to touch, and Avery had stopped trying to explain. Better to let her hug and get it over with.
“It’s no trouble. I love watching Gianna.” Avery shifted to search for her goddaughter on the floor. The ten-year-old girl was a spitting image of her mother Bella, but her dark curls wrapped into a tight bun. Her full lips pressed tightly together in concentration as she pirouetted and pointed her toes.
Bella didn’t voice the reason she had invited Avery here but let the silence do the talking.
Avery sighed and turned back to the woman who was the closest thing she had to a sister. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have the good news I was hoping to report. The lead I was working met with—let’s just say I hit a wall.” There was no point telling her the wall belonged to a six-foot-something security guard with a heart of gold but the worst timing ever.
Taking a deep breath, Bella set her phone on the coffee table and took Avery’s hands. The gesture would have been repulsive if anyone other than Bella had done it.
“Avery, you know that my mother—God rest her soul—had absolute faith in you, and so do I. Setback or not, you will find the mastermind behind Anthony’s death and bring him to justice.”
Want to know more about the book?
You can’t watch your own back.
Private Investigator Avery Reynolds leads the charge to expose Tampa’s supposedly “extinct” mob. The crime boss responsible for her foster brother’s death is within her grasp—until she hits a wall in the form of Ethan Bridger, a Coast Guard veteran who unknowingly derails her sting operation. When the elusive “Big Eddie” comes out of hiding, he targets their mutual friends about to tie the knot.
Avery sets aside her angst toward Ethan to focus on ending the crime boss’s reign of terror. But working together exposes her trust issues and his PTSD stemming from a comrade’s tragedy. When Avery goes solo into a prisoner exchange operation, she discovers her vulnerability too late—and must lean on Ethan and the God she thought had abandoned her. But will that help reach her in time?
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About the Author
Kristen Hogrefe Parnell writes suspenseful fiction from a faith perspective for women and young adults. A former English teacher, she now designs curriculum for a Christian academy and spends most of her time at her favorite assignment to date: being a mom. Her books have won the Selah Award and the Grace Award, among others. She lives in the Tampa, Florida area with her husband and son. Learn more at KristenHogrefeParnell.com.
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