Brighter When Broken

In a basement thick with the stench of blood and betrayal, Lachlan Kelley-Mayer awakens to a nightmare. Chained to a rusted mattress, her body bruised and her heirloom wedding ring stolen, she realizes her husband, Jack, has orchestrated her kidnapping-a $5 million ransom for a life he's already written off. But Lachlan is no pawn. A philanthropist with a razor-sharp mind and a lifetime of parsing Jack's lies, she turns survival into a lethal game. With her captors-Marek, a mercenary with a wintermint smile, and Jenna, a reluctant accomplice-Lachlan dances on a knife's edge, unraveling Jack's web of offshore accounts and hollow vows.
Flashbacks of their opulent marriage-diamond pendants, charity galas, and whispered threats-fuel her resolve. As deadlines loom and bodies pile up, Lachlan must outwit a man who taught her to play poker. and forgets she learned to cheat. A pulse-pounding thriller of marital deceit, acid pits, and the ghosts of trust, Brighter When Broken asks: How far would you go to burn the person who vowed to love you?