Thriller
Date Published: 11-01-2026
Publisher: Rowan Prose Publishing
reunion, they decide to repair their fractured relationship and start over.
But then Sam finds out Rebecca is dating Adam, a man she’d had an
intense relationship with two years ago. She vows to keep it a secret, lest it
sever their newly mended bond.
Sam soon realizes she can’t outrun her and Rebecca’s imperfect
past, nor can she ignore her and Adam’s desire for one another.
As Sam struggles between loyalty and lust, she realizes that vengeance can
make monsters out of all of us.
Excerpt
Prologue
Sam stared at the blood gleaming on the hardwood floor in front of her. Someone was screaming beside her, but she couldn’t focus on anything other than the blood’s impossibly bright color. It was garnet-colored and aromatic–like a splash of copper-scented wine. Its beauty and grotesqueness transfixed her, and her eyes blinked slowly and heavily as she gazed at it. Concrete-heavy shock packed her muscles and froze her in place.
Her mouth moved, but the words stuck in her throat as she stared at the corpse’s crimson neck. A knife stuck out of it, and blood smeared the black handle. Sam blinked long and slow. Adrenaline began coursing through her once again, and her muscles loosened, but shock held her mind in its sharp claws.
Her eyes finally flicked to the fallen gun on the hardwood floor. Tears gleamed in her eyes. She knew she was the one who had caused this mess. She knew she had severed her relationships and created the target now on her back.
But vengeance was in control of her body now.
Her gaze scanned the blood-spattered murderer in front of her. Sam’s heart thundered as reality slammed through her like buckshot.
This person had killed someone Sam loved.
Sam grabbed the gun and pointed it at the wide-eyed assailant.
Let justice be served.
About the Author
Jessica Clem is the author of the thriller, This Never Happened (coming November 2026), and the horror novel In Lieu of Flowers (coming 2027), both from Rowan Prose Publishing.
Her work has appeared in The Stygian Lepus Magazine, Creation Magazine, Dark Harbor Magazine (now Macabre Magazine), Ms Magazine, Literally Stories, on the Creepy Podcast’s Patreon page, and in the horror anthologies Down with the Fallen from Franklin/Kerr Press, D is for Demons from Red Cape Publishing, and After Dark from Rowan Prose Publishing. She is a 2026 Next Step Fund grant recipient, a project made possible by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through a grant from the McKnight Foundation.
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