Black Roses

HER SECRETS ARE UGLY.

They've kept her from going home.

Now she's risking everything to return.

Piper Mitchell

Coming back to New York for my sister's wedding was a mistake.

It was supposed to be a quick trip. Show up, say the right words, then I'd be gone.

But everywhere I look, I imagine I see the men who destroyed my life.

I didn't think anyone could ever understand what was taken from me that fateful day.

Until I meet him. The football star. The single dad.

Mason Lawrence

I throw a football in front of eighty thousand people.

Mingling with the rich and famous is just another part of my job.

Nothing makes me nervous. Not until she walks off a plane and into my life.

She's broken. Shattered by some event she keeps hidden under lock and key. The clues on her body fail to reveal her secrets-unlike the clues on my body that clearly publicize mine.

The clock is ticking, giving me only a few short months to uncover the true meaning of the flower branded onto her flesh.

Because if she gets back on that plane, I know she'll be gone forever.