Net And Noose - Undertow Sins, #42

"The net that catches me also holds me."

Aven Sloane is a dedicated Child Protective Services caseworker who strictly follows the rules. Her latest assignment takes her deep into the isolated Louisiana bayou to evaluate Corvin Thane, a convicted killer raising his nine-year-old daughter off the grid. Aven is there to do her job, assess the risks, and close the case. She expects a monster. She doesn't expect a quiet, fiercely protective father who will do anything to keep his daughter safe.

When a historic and devastating flood washes out the only road, Aven finds herself trapped in Corvin's stilt cabin. No cell signal. No escape. For seventeen days, they are entirely cut off from the outside world.

As the dark brown waters rise around them, so does the undeniable tension. Stripped of her professional armor and forced to rely on Corvin for survival, Aven begins to see the man behind the criminal record—a man scarred by his past, struggling with illiteracy, yet capable of profound tenderness. Forced proximity breaks down their walls, and a tentative, powerful connection forms in the suffocating heat of the bayou.

But the floodwaters will eventually recede. When the outside world returns, Aven must make a life-altering choice: return to the safety of her career in a deeply flawed system, or risk everything for a man the world has already condemned.