Maple
I had one rule.
Don’t trust men.
So when Cade Sonnenberg, the wealthiest, most respected man in town walked into my dance studio and acted like he genuinely wanted to know me, I should have run.
I didn’t run. Instead, I let him in. I let him close to my little brother. I let myself believe that maybe, just this once, someone was staying.
Then I overheard him talking about me at a party.
The words were so cold, they stopped my heart mid-beat.
I left from the back door, and cut him out of my life.
But now, as I’m preparing for the fall festival performance, he’s back in my studio, begging for a second chance. But I heard what I heard, and he’s not getting one.
Tropes:
Small Town Fall Romance
Relationship in Crisis
Gut Punch Betrayal
Plenty of Groveling
High Angst
Author’s Note: This is the second book in the Words of Ruin series — short standalones linked by one devastating truth: overheard words can destroy everything.
If you enjoyed the first book in the series, you’ll love this one even more.
Each book, a different season, a different secret.
The same earth-shattering moment of hearing something you were never meant to hear.
And the grovel? The knees-on-the-floor, heart-in-your-hands, please-give-me-a-second-chance grovel? Worth every page.
