Broken Embrace: A gripping suspenseful romance about second chances

Book 3: Embrace Series

by Dana Mason

Genres: Contemporary Romance; Police & Law Enforcement Romance; Sports Romance; Romantic Suspense; Second Chance Romance; Later in Life Romance; romantic thriller; cop romance; standalone romance series; first love; Sports Romance; steamy romance; Single Dad romance; Coming home romance

Synopsis

Winner! Best Romance! 2015 Best Indie Books Awards

 

Sometimes second chances are deadly.

The Past...
As childhood sweethearts, Brian and Melissa's plans were simple: finish school, get married and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, life didn't go as planned. Melissa went away to college, and Brian married her best friend.

The Present...
Seventeen years have passed, and Brian's stable family life has come crashing down around him. His wife's a cheater, his teenage daughter is hiding things from him, and Melissa is back in town to remind him of what he lost all those years ago.
Melissa's returned home, ready to forgive and focus on her future, but that all changes the day she gets a desperate phone call from Brian's daughter, Erin. Thrown back into Brian's tumultuous life, Melissa struggles to move beyond the pain of his broken promise.

The Future...
While working together to save Erin from the evil web she's caught in, Melissa and Brian fight to fix the past or face losing each other all over again.

Release date: May 24, 2014

Publisher: Dana Mason

Print pages: 375

Content advisory: abuse, light domestic violence, infidelity

Sample

Chapter One

Detective Brian Hammel shook hands with the Sebastopol Police Chief and nodded his thanks. Brian hadn’t gained much information from the visit, but he had gained an ally, and that surpassed anything else. One could not have too many friends in law enforcement, especially when investigating a case like this.

“I’ll let you know what we come up with,” he said.

“We’ll do the same. Thanks for driving out, Detective Hammel.” Chief Lee Morgan looked over at Brian’s partner, Johnny Rhay Bennett. “You, too, Detective Bennett.” He shook his hand. “It’s a small town. We don’t often have to deal with this kind of stuff.”

“Hey.” Brian chuckled, not that it was funny at all. He pushed open the heavy glass door and squinted at the sun glaring in his face. “It’s a first for me, too,” he said as the chief followed him out into the sweltering heat.

One hundred and four degrees on the Friday before Labor Day. California was in store for another Indian summer. What he’d give for a steady, cool rain every day of the year. Typically as temperatures went up, so did crime, and he already had enough work to do. Brian glanced back at the chief, and wished like hell he and his partner hadn’t had to drive out from Santa Rosa to inform him of the potential disaster brewing in Sebastopol’s largest preschool.

“I’ll work with the administration at the preschool and let them know about Ackerman. Hopefully, we won’t find any victims,” Morgan said.

“I think that’s best, too.” Brian rested his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. “None of the photos we collected were of kids that small, but it doesn’t mean he’s not guilty of other forms of abuse.”

“We’d like to talk to the admin, too. Talk to Ackerman’s boss, ask about his work habits, interests,” Johnny said.

“Right.” Morgan nodded. “I’ll pass on your card. They’ll be closed for the holiday weekend, but I’ll make sure they call you next week.”

Brian snatched at the smoking hot door handle and let the wave of heat escape the car before sliding onto the hot-as-hell vinyl seats. He immediately started the car and cranked the air on high then waited a moment before closing his door. His seat was hot enough; he didn’t want to scorch his hands on the steering wheel of fire, as well.

He maneuvered the car onto Wallace, scanning the street ahead of him. Sebastopol was a quiet little town about ten minutes from downtown Santa Rosa. It certainly didn’t look like the breeding ground for pedophiles. Then again, things were never as they seemed.

“So what is the age range on those kids again?” Brian asked.

Johnny flipped a page in the file. “They’re just babies. These here are between twelve and sixteen.”

“And what’s the likelihood there are more? Pretty damn likely if you ask me. This shit is like an addiction. Once they start, they can’t stop.”

“Nasty shit,” Johnny said. “Who the hell gets off on naked, twelve-year-old boys?”

“I’ve never seen this in Santa Rosa. You ever see a kiddy porn case when you worked in Nashville?”

“No, but I worked homicide. Give me a murderer over a pedophile any day of the week. I say we castrate every damn one of ’em.”

Brian turned off Wallace onto North Main Street. “Let’s run this down again. We got one guy, Scott Ackerman—worked as a teacher at the Sebastopol preschool—two dozen photos, and six different kids, all boys between twelve and sixteen. What am I missing?”

“He’s originally from SoCal. He’s not married and has no kids of his own.”

“No, there’s something else.” Brian snapped his fingers and pointed at Johnny. “The guy doesn’t own any camera equipment, at least none we’ve found.”

“So he’s not taking the pics himself. He’s got a producer, and you know what that means, partner.”

“It means there’s a lot more of this stuff around.” Brian held the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip. This case was killing him. Of all the things he’d seen in his years as a cop, this one would not come together for him. “Let’s hope to hell we don’t have ourselves a child porn network operating out of Santa Rosa.”

“Maybe he brought this crap up with him when he moved from down south.”

Brian wished like hell he believed that, but he had a sick feeling about this case, sick enough to keep him up at night. “Martinez is sure they’re local Santa Rosa boys. He’s at the Community Center now. He thinks some of the pictures might have been taken there.”

The light switched to green and Brian turned left onto Bodega Avenue. He slowed for a car that had stopped in front of O’Farrell’s Pub with its hazard lights flashing.

“It’s a red zone, jerk, move your ass.”

The passenger door opened and a pair of female legs swung out. The woman leaned in and kissed the driver, lingering intimately as her hand lifted to cup the driver’s face, holding him close for another moment.

Brian slammed the palm of his hand down on the horn. “Come on, I need to get back to town!”

Johnny motioned to the left. “Just squeeze around him; you’ll fit.”

“Ah, damn it, I’ve got shit to do,” Brian groaned, turning the wheel to drive around. At the same time, the passenger got out, waving to the driver as she stepped up on the curb. The car pulled away.

“Hey, is that—” Couldn’t be Julie. “Mother fucker!” Brian squinted to get a better look then turned to Johnny, who was also watching the woman.

Brian looked back to his wife and found her staring at him, eyes wide. Julie quickly turned and walked in the other direction.

“What the hell?” Brian accelerated and popped the curb, parking half on the sidewalk and half on the street. How could she walk away and ignore him after he’d watched her get out of some jerk’s car? Brian threw his car in park and snapped the door handle.

Johnny caught his arm. “Take a breath first, Brian.”

“Did you see—who was that guy?”

“You’re on the job. You can’t go out there with guns blazing.”

“Screw the job!” Brian jumped out with a racing heart. “What the hell, Jules?” he shouted.

She stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“What are you doing?” he said, walking up behind her. “Who was that guy?”

She turned. Guilt oozed out of her. “Brian.” She glanced around as several patrons stepped out of O’Farrell’s. “Don’t do this here.” She held up a placating hand. “Let’s go home and talk.”

Brian took a step closer. “Who’s the guy, Julie?”

“Don’t do this, Brian.”

“Me!” He poked his chest with a finger then turned it on her. “You’re the one out here whoring around.”

Her eyes finally met his, narrowing. “You asshole! As if you give a damn. You’re a blind, ignorant son of a bitch!”

“Are you kidding me right now?” He dropped his hands to his hips. “Seriously, are you joking?” Julie’s indignation pissed him off even more. How had she turned this around on him?

She shook her head, her shoulders slumping as she turned, waving him away. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.”

Before he could respond, she was two strides away, walking toward the parking lot.

“You’re walking away? Giving me nothing? I can’t believe this.” He lurched forward and grabbed her arm.

She froze, still averting her eyes. “Let go,” she said over her shoulder.

Johnny grasped Brian’s arm, and at the same time, Julie tugged free.

“Who was that guy, Julie?” he shouted, but she kept walking.

“Stop, Bri,” Johnny said. “Not the place.” He pulled on Brian’s arm, eyeing the crowd that had collected. “You’ve had enough trouble at work. Save this for home.”