The Fall(91)

Confused and overcome with grief, he chose the closest target when the gunfire started. Sadly for him, he had chosen the wrong side. The same gun Franco had used to shoot Sofia was then turned on the other Amaro child.

And in a tragic and horrific twist of irony, they both had been buried with their father.

The machines beside Mona sounded loudly, sending medical personal rushing into the room. Her lithe frame jumped from her seat beside him, the body on the hospital gurney jerking in violent convulsions.

“Get her out of here,” yelled a doctor, the kind nurse from earlier gently ushering her out of the room.

“Please, don’t die,” she whispered, the door closing in front of her as doctors and nurses worked in an erratic sea of activity. “I need you.” She couldn’t bear the thought of once again being alone.

The heart monitor flat lined with paddles being placed on his chest prompting his back to lift after each charge.

They weren’t sure how much his heart could take, and whether the shocks would kick start the rhythm or end it entirely.

But they weren’t to know, as they charged up the paddles one last time, that he was very much his mother’s son.

And she would wait for him a little longer.

An eternity if necessary.

Because that’s what mothers did.

“We’ve got something!” the doctor yelled, the tiniest of peaks appeared on the long flat line of the ECG. “I think he’s back.”

The heart that had served him so well in the past continued to beat. And while no one would know what the future would hold for it, it was clear it wouldn’t stop just yet.

Some would argue that it would have been better if he died in that room. They were the same people who claimed he had no soul.

As Michael and his heart proved that day—neither of those things were true.

***

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The first thank you always goes to my family—Gep, Jenna, Liam and Woodley. I think I cried a little more with this book and was probably more unbearable than usual, but you loved me anyway. I love you guys so very much.

Thanks to my amazing extended family and friends. I’m sorry if I haven’t seen you enough or told you how much I love you and I promise I will try and do better. I will even put on pants and occasionally leave the house—that’s how much I care. PS. I think I owe a few of you drinks, feel free to cash in your I owe yous.

Special thanks to MK. Your insight is phenomenal and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Amazing. Please don’t ever get too busy to read my books.

Thank you to the many authors I adore who strangely think I’m okay too. Lili Saint Germain, JB Hartnett, Monica James, Skyla Madi, CJ Duggan, Lilliana Andersen, Rachel Brookes, JD Nixon, Natasha Preston, Kirsty Mosely, Jane Harvey-Berrick, Ker Dukey, LA Casey, Tillie Cole, Abbi Glines, Chantal Fernando, Helena Hunting, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, Kelly Elliot, Jay Crownover, Kim Karr, SC Stephens, Joanna Wylde, Kylie Scott and MK Harkins—and to anyone I’ve left out, you all rock.

Hang Le—cover artist extraordinaire and general badass! Thanks for all the pretty things.

Huge thanks and appreciation to all the bloggers and blogs who have, and continue to support me. So many of you share my covers, releases, sales without even so much as a word from me. It is a massive job and see the incredible effort you put in. I’m sorry if I miss your shares or posts, but every single one of you is amazing.

Thanks to the T Gephart Entourage, #InsertInsanity. I promise one of these days we’ll talk books. LOL

Thanks to my Penny and Angela #WhereISUnimpressedCat? Those messages and GIFs make my day.

Thank you to my editor, Nichole Strauss, from Perfectly Publishable. This one was a challenge for me but I knew you would be honest if it was shit. Luckily for both of us it wasn’t. LOL Thanks for walking this road with me even when I’m freaking out, saying f*ck too much and Power Station-ing my way through my drafts.

Thank you to my proofreaders Marie and Rosa for picking up pesky Typ0s LOL.

Massive thanks to Max Henry from Max Effect—Fantastic formatting yet again.

And the biggest thank you is of course to YOU, the readers. This was a different book for me to write and I didn’t want to insult you by giving you a half-assed effort. You trusted me and allowed me to do what I do. It means everything. Thank you.





T Gephart is an indie author from Melbourne, Australia.

T’s approach to life has been somewhat unconventional. Rather than going to University, she jumped on a plane to Los Angeles, USA in search of adventure. While this first trip left her somewhat underwhelmed and largely depleted of funds it fueled her appetite for travel and life experience.

With a rather eclectic resume, which reads more like the fiction she writes than an actual employment history, T struggled to find her niche in the world.

While on a subsequent trip the United States in 1999, T met and married her husband. Their whirlwind courtship and interesting impromptu convenience store wedding set the tone for their life together, which is anything but ordinary. They have lived in Louisiana, Guam and Australia and have traveled extensively throughout the US. T has two beautiful young children and one four legged child, Woodley, the wonder dog.

An avid reader, T became increasingly frustrated by the lack of strong female characters in the books she was reading. She wanted to read about a woman she could identify with, someone strong, independent and confident and who didn’t lack femininity. Out of this need, she decided to pen her first book, A Twist of Fate. T set herself the challenge to write something that was interesting, compelling and yet easy enough to read that was still enjoyable. Pulling from her own past “colorful” experiences and the amazing personalities she has surrounded herself with, she had no shortage of inspiration. With a strong slant on erotic fiction, her core characters are empowered women who don’t have to sacrifice their femininity. She enjoyed the process so much that when it was over she couldn’t let it go.