Under the Stars, the stunning conclusion of the thrilling, white-hot second-chance Bright Lights Duet from USA Today bestselling author Tia Louise is available NOW!
Title: Under the Stars
Series: Bright Lights Duet #2
Author: Tia Louise
Genre: Thrilling Second-Chance Romance
Release Date: January 22, 2018
All around us was darkness and night…
I’m not a hero. I’m a survivor. I had one way out, and I took it. Now all I want is peace, A place to pick up the pieces and start over.
But she wants justice. Names on a list, strangers in the crowd.I vowed to help her, but helping her brings us face to face with the demons.
Until Mark appears.
I thought he died in the fight. I was wrong. He’s here.
Stronger, more powerful… Sexier, and more dangerous.
The boy I loved is now the man we have to fear the most.
When he tried to save me, he had no power. Now he carries a gun, and he won’t stop until I’m his.
Lara
The sunrise paints the early morning clouds in gold, salmon, orange, and yellow, burning stripes above the emerald green and deep blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
I walk on sugar-white sands down a grassy hill from Freddie’s villa in Nice, the one he allows us to live in since Molly stopped being able to sleep.
Since she became obsessed with revenge. My chest is heavy, and my mind is filled with images of our last errand… A cold white night. A beautiful man with beautiful eyes and a beautiful soul.
An urgent knock on the door blasting it all to hell. The salty breeze whips around me, twisting my dark hair into a rope where it’s tied at my neck.
Catching the sides of my oversized white shirt, I pull it closer around my body, covering the thin tank underneath. Lara! The high voice catches my attention, and I look up to the top of the hill.
Molly waves and starts down the weathered wooden staircase leading to the shore where I stand. Every morning I’m here. I’m easy to find… for anyone who’s looking.
The salt water washes over my feet, cold and shocking. I watch as the watery sand surrounds them and they slowly disappear. Tiny splashes, and a Yorkshire terrier joins me in the surf. I bend down to pat his head. Hi, Pierre.
Hey! Molly bends down to scoop up her little dog. It’s time to talk about what’s next. My lips press into a sad smile, and I stand, placing my arm around her waist. She allows me this small token of affection as we resume my stroll along the shoreline.
We have at least four months before we can do anything, I say, hoping to placate her. Her body stiffens, but the fight has left me. I understood before. She needed to finish a job no one else could be trusted to do, but now I’m tired.
I’m sad, and I’m ready to be done with it. No matter how much we’ve accomplished, how much justice is served, I can’t help feeling like it cost me everything. Almost everything.
My mind skips across the miles to that night seven months ago… I stood in the doorway, and our eyes locked over the evidence of what she’d done.
Only minutes before, I’d been surrounded by Mark’s strong arms, secure and happy, in a cocoon of love and protection. I’d looked ahead, into a future of all the beautiful things that might be mine.
The faintest knock on the door changed it. It’s over, I said looking down at the dead body. Molly stood looking at her handiwork, lips tight and body stiff.
No tremors. No fear. No regrets. They’re all gone, I said. Reaching out, I tried to touch her, to comfort her, but she pulled away, anger lining her young face. There’s still one more.
My brow furrowed as I recalled her list of names. That was the last one. There’s one more. The biggest one of all. My reticence makes her angry, and my arm is awkward around her stiff body.
Vigilante justice is the path she chose, but my wounds have lost their power. They’re not worth the fresh ones I’ve acquired. Four months, tops, she argues, blue eyes slicing into mine.
Barely contained rage bubbles behind those eyes. She’s got the taste for blood, and whether it’s to avenge her or me, she wants more. She wants it all. She hasn’t lost anything. For her it’s been only gain, and she won’t stop until they’re all dead.
***
Lara we stop walking and turn to face the emerald waters. The briny air pushes her hair back and around her shoulders. Tendrils spin around my face, and the inescapable sorrow filters through my chest.
I can’t do this anymore. Yes, you can. Her voice is flat, and she bends to put Pierre on the dry sand. I’m going up. How much longer will you be out here? Celeste is making Quiche Lorraine for breakfast.
Another sigh. I’ll be up in a bit. I’m finishing my exercise. Don’t stay out too long or I’ll eat all the food! Come, Pierre! I watch her run up the tall staircase, her little dog at her heels, thinking of the reasons she has to run.
I remember her as a small girl on the street, in the dark alley behind the theater. She was thin and starving and hunched in the corner waiting to die. She was so malnourished, I thought she was younger than her actual age, which was twelve.
I remember carrying her inside and fighting with Rosa. I remember Rosa boxing my ears and telling me the first time that kid cried, she’d throw us both in the alley with the rats.
I remember the terror I felt that night and Molly falling asleep so quietly with her head on my chest. She needed me. She loved me, and I loved her fiercely in return.
I remember her running around the theater, a sweet and innocent kid never suspecting the hawk was circling above, watching her, closing in to steal her soul and warp her future. I’ll never forgive myself for what happened to her.
I’ll never forgive myself for not being there to protect her. A flash of pain moves through my stomach, and I remember someone saying the same words to me not so long ago… Walking to the edge of the water, I look out at the surf, at the waves rushing in and out.
I think about how nothing bad can happen here. The sins of the past are far, far away from this beautiful place. Only it’s a lie. The sins of the past are never far away. We carry them with us in our hearts wherever we go. No matter how far we run, we can never outrun ourselves.
Tears are in my eyes, and I blink them away. My emotions are so close to the surface these days. I squat and wrap my arms around my knees, holding my insides together and wishing… My wishes never come true. Lara!
A strong male voice cuts through the breeze. For a moment I don’t believe it. It’s a wish caught on the wind and carried away out to sea. Lara! It’s louder this time, closer. Nervous anticipation floods my chest.
I stand and look up and over my shoulder. The staircase where Molly descended is empty. The one ahead of it is empty as well. Was it a dream? Another shout, and I realize it’s coming from behind me. Turning, I see a tall figure jogging down the steps.
He’s alone, and he’s moving fast. I look around, and no one is here. I have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. My heart alternates between beating out of my chest and dying.
I’m back on that train, seeing him for the first time out of the blue, completely caught off-guard, alternately panicking and rejoicing… He’s alive! He’s wearing faded jeans and a plain white t-shirt. His caramel hair is a little longer, but not much.
It moves in the breeze as he approaches me. He’s strong and pure and gorgeous as ever, and the way we touched, our glorious reunion is stronger and hotter in my memory than the sun climbing higher in the sky.
I want to cry. I want to sing. I want to hold him… But now everything has changed.
©Tia Louise 2018
