'Til Death

He left in handcuffs. Now it’s time to set himself free.

Nearly twenty years after he was wrongly convicted of setting the fire that killed his father, Lincoln Fox returns to Rebel Ridge, Kentucky. There, deep in the Appalachians, the truth of that terrible night lies buried—and he’s sworn to uncover it.

His plans take an unexpected turn when, in the midst of a blizzard, he rescues Meg Walker from her wrecked car. Suddenly Linc discovers another reason to clear his name. Meg, his high school sweetheart, had always believed in his innocence, and if he wants a future with her, he has to show the world proof that she was right.

As the community chooses sides, those who once let a teenage boy take the fall for their crime are forced to raise the stakes. They kidnap Meg, leaving her to the mercy of the mountain. And a second rescue may be more than even Linc can manage.…

Praise for the novels of

“Vivid, gripping…this thriller keeps the pages turning.”

—Library Journal on Torn Apart

“Sala’s characters are vivid and engaging.”

—Publishers Weekly on Cut Throat

“Sharon Sala is not only a top romance novelist, she is an inspiration for people everywhere who wish to live their dreams.”

—John St. Augustine, host, Power!Talk Radio WDBC-AM, Michigan

“Veteran romance writer Sala lives up to her reputation with this well-crafted thriller.”

—Publishers Weekly on Remember Me

“[A] well-written, fast-paced ride.”

—Publishers Weekly on Nine Lives

“Perfect entertainment for those looking for a suspense novel with emotional intensity.”

—Publishers Weekly on Out of the Dark

’Til Death

Sharon Sala

www.mirabooks.co.uk

“At all costs” is a commonly used phrase in our culture, but rarely do we consider that the true meaning often encompasses the worth of a human life.

It’s what drives us to excel when by all accounts we should actually fail.

It’s what pushes us beyond physical strength to a refusal to let go.

It’s what makes one person a survivor and another a victim.

And it’s inherent in the vow in a wedding ceremony that holds the most meaning…’til death do us part. And is often the first one broken.

I believe in a forever kind of love—the kind that still endures after death, the kind with a spirit so strong that it refuses to acknowledge separation and still finds a way to communicate.

I dedicate this book to forever loves and to the people who hold on to their dreams at all costs.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

One

Rebel Ridge, Kentucky

October

The sweet, soulful voice of a blues singer spilled out into the room from Meg Lewis’s radio, sharing a message of unrequited love as old as time.

I can’t make you love me....

Meg looked up from the fabric she’d been cutting and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the other side of the table. Just for a moment she saw herself as a stranger might: tall, mid-thirties with dark hair below her shoulders and a heart-shaped face with eyes as green as new grass.

She frowned and then returned to the cutting table.

The last thing on her mind was finding love. Her high school sweetheart had gone to prison for killing his dad, and when she took a chance on love again and married at nineteen, within two years her husband had killed a man over drugs and gone to prison for life. She wound up divorced at twenty-one and shamed in the eyes of the residents of Rebel Ridge by association alone.

Her saving grace had been a family who didn’t believe in quitting. Her grandfather Walker, who was in his last days in a nursing home, gave her his house. Having a place to call her own and a family that always had her back saved her. They were fiercely protective of each other, and she was grateful every day for her brothers: Ryal, a master carpenter, James, who farmed and was the mail carrier on Rebel Ridge, and Quinn, an army vet and a Back Country Ranger in the Daniel Boone National Forest.

The only real skill she had was sewing, which was what she turned to in the dark days after her divorce. She went back to quilting during that self-imposed exile because it was a solitary task, and when she had finished the first quilt, in a way, she’d finished grieving for her failed marriage, as well.

Her father died a short while afterward, and her mother, Dolly, gave up their family home to Ryal, the oldest son, and moved in with Meg. They were together for the next fourteen-plus years, until just over a year ago, when Dolly remarried and moved out to her new husband’s home. For the first time in her life, Meg Lewis was finally living alone.

These days the sad song’s message had no place in Meg’s world. She didn’t have an unrequited love and wasn’t looking for a new one, although there were times when the loneliness of living alone got to her. The song ended just as a gust of wind popped the screens on the outside of the house.