SHATTERED GRACE

"A warning," he repeated. "No charges filed."

I stared at him suspiciously.

People didn't just help for no reason.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch."

"There's always a catch."

His mouth twitched slightly like he almost smiled.

You don't trust people much, huh?"

I grabbed Liam's tiny backpack from the chair.

"Smart people don't."

Then I walked toward the exit before anyone could stop me.

Maya is an orphan raising her 4-year-old brother Liam in a freezing apartment with nothing but survival on her side. Desperation pushes her into stealing-until she's caught by Officer Gregory Hale.

He should arrest her. Instead, he lets her go.

But in a city built on secrets and corruption, one mistake pulls Maya by into a dangerous world surrounding her brother's daycare-and the powerful man hiding behind it.

Now the only person she can turn to is the same officer she was never meant to trust. Because in her world nothing comes for free and she knows Gregory Hale wants something in return.

Her enemy. Her weakness. Her only way out.