A Safe Place To Land (My Journey Series Book 1)

After turning twenty-one, Maya sets out to find the birth mother who might explain everything. A violent encounter with a mysterious man plunges her into a darker world. He is as haunted as she is-fierce, damaged, terrifyingly tender. Their chemistry is immediate and volatile: refuge that threatens control. As Maya digs into the past, buried secrets fracture her identity and force impossible choices. Trauma refuses neat endings. Love becomes both lifeline and liability-can redemption survive, or will the darkness destroy them both? What will Maya uncover about herself and his past as she tumbles down this dark path? Is he her safe place to land?
Chapter 17 Peek: Shame slithered up my neck like ice water, freezing me in place. Then Mom: "Jacob, I'm disappointed in you." The words landed like a slab of concrete on my chest. "Not because you're broken-because you KNEW BETTER and still chose to hurt. You hurt Maya. Danny. Your father and I. Worst of all, you hurt yourself." Her voice trembled, not with anger-but with the kind of sorrow that comes from loving someone who's become unrecognizable. 'She's crying. Because of me.' My chest split open. I wiped my face with my palm, salt stinging my lips. "I know," I choked, voice barely a whisper, splintering into nothing. "I hate myself for it."
"We don't want you to hate yourself, son," Dad cut in, his voice rough with emotion now, the ache raw and unguarded. "Hate won't fix this. RESPONSIBILITY will. You don't get to drown in self-pity-that's just another escape. You OWN it. You CARRY it. And you EARN your way back-one brutal, honest step at a time." A pause, heavy with the weight of a father's love stretched to breaking. "We didn't raise a coward. So stop acting like one."