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Back A Slow Ruin Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Praise for USA Today bestseller Pamela Crane’s psychological thrillers:
  2. To Talia, for letting Mommy take a million pictures of you for my cover. I know you love the attention.
  3. Author’s Note
  4. The Pittsburg Press
  5. Prologue
  6. Chapter 1
  7. Chapter 2
  8. Chapter 3
  9. Chapter 4
  10. Chapter 5
  11. Chapter 6
  12. Chapter 7
  13. Chapter 8
  14. The Pittsburg Press
  15. Chapter 9
  16. Chapter 10
  17. Chapter 11
  18. Chapter 12
  19. Chapter 13
  20. Chapter 14
  21. Chapter 15
  22. Chapter 16
  23. The Pittsburg Press
  24. Chapter 17
  25. Chapter 18
  26. Chapter 19
  27. Chapter 20
  28. Chapter 21
  29. Chapter 22
  30. The Pittsburg Press
  31. Chapter 23
  32. Chapter 24
  33. Chapter 25
  34. The Pittsburg Press
  35. Chapter 26
  36. Chapter 27
  37. Chapter 28
  38. Chapter 29
  39. The Pittsburg Press
  40. Chapter 30
  41. Chapter 31
  42. Chapter 32
  43. Chapter 33
  44. Chapter 34
  45. Chapter 35
  46. Chapter 36
  47. Chapter 37
  48. Chapter 38
  49. Chapter 39
  50. Chapter 40
  51. Chapter 41
  52. The Pittsburg Press
  53. Chapter 42
  54. Chapter 43
  55. Chapter 44
  56. Chapter 45
  57. Chapter 46
  58. Epilogue
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. About the Author
  61. Enjoy what you read?

“Geez, you’re awfully protective of that thing. Are you hiding something from me?” I lifted an eyebrow, and he nervously grinned. I had been joking, but maybe it wasn’t a joke. What was he hiding? “Oliver, who are you texting about Vera to?”

“Vera? I wasn’t texting about Vera.”

“Yes you were. I just saw her name in that text.”

“Oh.” He glanced at the floor, as if he’d find a more convincing lie in the grout between the tiles. “Cody was asking if we heard anything new on Vera’s case, that’s all.”

It seemed an awful strange thing for Oliver’s brother to ask via text, considering we saw him every week for family dinner where we always kept him well-informed. Which, now that I realized the time, was quickly approaching. Oliver’s family usually arrived around six o’clock for dinner, and it was already four thirty. That didn’t leave much time to figure out a meal, prepare it, and serve it.

“You’re just as bad as I am,” I grumbled as I tossed a cookbook on the counter.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your phone—you’re just as possessive with yours as I am with mine.”

“No I’m not.” He laughed it off, but something inside me wilted with the awareness that my husband had a secret too, and it had to do with Vera.

Once upon a time we shared everything, with no space between us. Until lies and secrets broke us apart, made us strangers, and nothing could fill the breach.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Marin Portman

The blue flame on the gas stove licked my fingertip. Something inside me wanted to touch it, feel it sear me, cook my skin. I wanted to see my flesh bubble and pop. I held my hand there for just a moment, soaking in the heat as it blistered red. It should have hurt, but I didn’t feel anything. Maybe my body had become so used to the ache that it was numb. I used to get burned by fire, but now I was forged by it. Into something inhuman. Something dark and evil.

“Marin!” Hearing my name jarred me back to my body, standing in the kitchen, while the kettle shrieked, and a flare of pain shot up my arm.

Maybe I wasn’t immune to pain after all.