Broken

By Debra Webb

After seven years of agony, Linc Reece was certain he'd found his dead wife alive and living in a tiny Tennessee town. He was sure Mia Grant was Lori, the wife he'd lost in an undercover case gone bad. Now the operative for the elite team of Equalizers had to prove it even if he had to kidnap her.

Mia Grant saw the hope in Linc's eyes but just because she liked vanilla, blues and old houses didn't make her his long–lost wife. Nothing about him was familiar, except the sizzle she felt when they touched. But when they discovered Lori's records destroyed and her photos stolen, even Mia knew someone had gone to great lengths to make her forget. And he'd do anything to ensure she never remembered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Jul 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781460841914

Debra Webb

DEBRA WEBB is the award winning, USA Today bestselling author of more than 170 novels, including reader favorites the Finley O'Sullivan series, the Colby Agency, and the Lookout Mountain Mystery series. With more than four million books sold in numerous languages and countries, Debra's love of storytelling goes back to her childhood on a farm in Alabama. Visit Debra at www.DebraWebb.com.

Book preview

Chapter One

Chicago, Friday, June 24, 10:06 p.m.

One more drink and he was out of here.

Lincoln Reece nodded to the bartender, an unspoken order for another of the same. He exhaled a lungful of relief that his latest assignment was successfully behind him.

There was no greater rush than the one that came with victim vindication. No one should be allowed to get away with taking advantage of little old ladies. Particularly not a man operating under the guise of the Good Book. The three elderly widows on whose behalf Linc had acted had gotten back the deeds to their homes, and the unsavory counterfeit minister who’d done the swindling was behind bars without bail, awaiting the next step toward prosecution.

The bartender left the glass on the counter and moved on to the next patron without missing a beat. Linc took a long swallow as he turned on the barstool to watch the Friday-night crowd. Most nights he was not on assignment he was here. He liked it here at Hazel’s House. The music was low enough for conversation, not that he ever talked to anyone. Best of all he could slide deep into oblivion and walk the three blocks to his rent-by-the-week room. No one cared who you were or what your deal was here in Hazel’s House.

Unless you dogged out the Cubs or the Bulls.

A table overturned on the other side of the room. Shouting broke out as bodies collided and fists swung. Linc leaned back and propped his arms on the counter to watch the show. A woman hollered that she didn’t belong to no man. Ah, the other reason the occasional brawl broke out in Hazel’s House. Jealousy.

Bouncers swaggered over to clear up the debate. Linc rotated the stool, turning his back to the ruckus. He didn’t need any trouble tonight. He was here to chill. The last time he’d let his old cop instincts guide him he’d spent the night in lockup. His boss had gotten the charges dropped within mere hours of Linc’s call.

Slade Keaton, head of the Equalizers, had a seemingly endless supply of resources. Linc downed the rest of his bourbon. Keaton was a decent boss. Linc hadn’t enjoyed anything about a job—and he’d had several—or about life in general for seven years. Working as an Equalizer gave Linc the closest thing to satisfaction he’d experienced in that time. If you could call existing to work a sense of satisfaction.

Linc laughed, the sound little more than a growl in his throat. Not living…just existing. Sad. So sad.

Thought I’d find you in a place like this.

Linc recoiled. What the hell? His bleary gaze cleared instantly. But his brain reacted a little more slowly. He blinked to banish what was no doubt an alcohol-induced hallucination.

The man laughed, near loudly enough to drown out the blues melting from the speakers mounted in the joint. That’s priceless. He leaned in close. What’s it been? Five years?

Linc gave his head a mental shake as he looked at the man with the gray hair, matching scraggly beard and laser-beam blue eyes. Mort Fraley. Enough long-exiled memories abruptly bombarded Linc to leave him shell-shocked.

Anger rammed his gut. How’d you find me? Linc hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone from his old life since he’d given up on the idea that she might still be alive. She. He couldn’t even bear to think her name, much less say it out loud.

Mort slid onto the stool next to Linc. He raised a hand to the bartender, pointed to Linc’s glass and held up two fingers before turning his attention back to Linc. I can’t believe you asked that question. His eyebrows reared upward. I’ve been a cop for thirty years. Besides, he said as he picked up one of the two glasses the bartender dropped off, I was your first partner. I taught you everything you know. Finding you was amateur hour, amigo.

Linc knocked back a long swallow. Didn’t do a thing for the tangle of emotions roiling in his belly. He swiped his mouth and met his mentor’s gaze. How long’ve you been keeping tabs on me?

Since the day you hit I-10 and put the City of Angels in your rearview mirror.

That too-familiar searing pain roared through Linc’s chest. He decided to cut to the chase. What do you want? Linc had moved around a lot the past five years. He’d landed in Chicago just six months ago. Six weeks later he’d hired on with Keaton as an Equalizer. L.A. was a place and time he had no desire to revisit.

Mort contemplated the question for an irritatingly long time before answering. I retired last year. He shrugged. Finally started to travel the way the wife has always wanted.

A smile attempted to crack Linc’s defensive disposition. You been driving a motor home around the country like one of those old geezers who retire to Palm Springs every year?

Mort made a face. It beats sitting around the house waiting to die of boredom.

Linc shook off the moment of nostalgia. He didn’t deal with that sentimental stuff anymore. You two passing through?

Mort glanced around the crowd, then turned a deadpan expression in Linc’s direction. Is there someplace quiet we can go?

That face was another blast from the past Linc could have done without. The impulse to tell his old friend and mentor to get back in his motor home and hit the road pressed against his chest. But Linc knew this man…really knew him. Mort wouldn’t have gone to the trouble to find him if it wasn’t important. And he sure wouldn’t be hiding behind that mask he saved for interrogations.

You dying or something? The possibility added another layer of uneasiness to the churning in Linc’s gut.

Mort pushed off his stool and threw a bill on the bar to cover the two drinks. I saw an all-night diner down the street.

Linc dropped the cash for his own tab tonight. I know the place.

Mort jawed all the way to the diner, catching Linc up on the old narcotics team, whether he wanted to hear it or not. But he’d put that life behind him; he wasn’t going back for anything. As if to defy his determination, Linc’s bum leg ached, adding a noticeable hitch to his gait.

The instant they slid into a booth Mort ordered a round of coffee. Black. This was serious.

You know the wife always had a thing for country music. He chuckled before sipping his coffee. All I’ve heard for thirty years is Nashville, Tennessee. ‘I want to go to the Opry.’

The coffee was hot and smelled strong enough to have been brewed at breakfast that morning. Linc fingered his cup. Nothing wrong with having a dream. He’d had dreams once. Before he’d realized that it was better not to care. A man had nothing to lose if he owned nothing, cared about nothing. Especially dreams.

Nothing at all, Mort agreed. I figure I owe it to her for sticking with a narcotics detective for thirty years.

The abrupt lure of much-needed caffeine got the better of Linc, and he sucked down a gulp, then gritted his teeth at the bitterness after all that smooth bourbon.

Last week, Mort went on, we drove from Music City to a little Tennessee town named Blossom, of all things, outside the nursery capital of the world. He harrumphed. Little village cluttered with antique shops, historic homes and nurseries filled with every sort of blooming bush and tree you can think of. As you can imagine, I was in heaven.

A deep, guttural laugh burst from Linc’s throat. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed—a real one, anyway. I’m surprised you got out alive.

Mort didn’t meet Linc’s gaze. He stared into the coffee cup, both palms down on the table.

A choke hold tightened around Linc’s throat. Something was definitely wrong here.

The wife and I took one of those hokey historic tours. He shrugged. You know, where they show you the oldest houses in town and whatever it is that puts the place on the map. Like the oldest Holly tree in the country. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places, by the way. But none of that got my attention.

His instincts thumping like the subwoofers in a drug-dealing pimp’s newest ride, Linc braced. Whispers, images from seven years ago seeped past the wall he’d built to block those memories.

Mort looked directly at Linc. "It was at the pink antebellum house, the Dowe house, that I saw her."

The urge to run hit Linc hard. He shook his head. I don’t want to hear this. He held up his hands. They shook. I gotta go.

Mort grabbed him by the arm before he could slide from the booth. Sit. He nodded to the seat. Listen.

When Linc hesitated, Mort pressed, You know me. He searched Linc’s eyes, winced at what he no doubt saw reflected there. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure.

Linc jerked free of Mort’s hold and dropped back into the booth. He leaned across the table. My wife is dead. You’re the one who forced me to accept that fact!

Mort heaved a heavy breath. I can’t argue with the truth. He nailed Linc with an unwavering stare. But I know what I saw and heard.

Her body was never found. But then neither were the remains of most of the others who died that day. Only two survived. A thug. And Linc. Not a day had gone by since when Linc didn’t wish he’d died, too. If he weren’t such a damned coward he would have pulled the trigger one of those mornings when he’d stuck the muzzle of a gun in his mouth instead of coffee.

Her face is a little different.

Linc scrubbed at his jaw, stroking the scar that slashed across his left cheek. Then you could be wrong. Not could be. He was wrong. She was dead. Linc’s wife was dead. It had taken two years for him to face that fact. Then he’d spent the next five running from the reality.

Mort shook his head. It’s her. The voice was hers. The way she moved. She goes by Mia Grant. The folks I talked to said she’s lived there for about six years. The whole town loves her. But not one of them could say where she’d come from. I checked out the name. There was no Mia Grant matching her description prior to six years ago.

Linc couldn’t do this. I appreciate that you went to all this trouble to let me know. He was done here. If he sat here a second longer he would explode.

I watched her restoring plaster molding in one of the houses on the tour.

Every single cell in Linc’s body ceased to function.

Her hands. The way she held the tools. Mort moved his head side to side again. It’s her.

Lori had been a tough cop. A narcotics detective. One who’d skipped her way to detective because she had uncanny instincts and an amazing ability to fall into character instantly. In her off time she loved driving around looking for old homes. She’d searched for months to find the perfect historic home before they’d decided to buy. A real fixer-upper. They’d hit a wall when it came to restoring the plaster. Hiring it out would have cost a small fortune. Lori had set out to master the skill of restoring plaster and she’d done it so well, her work had made a California home-builders’ magazine.

A dash of hope combined with the agony that was churning deep inside Linc. He shook his head. What Mort was suggesting was impossible. She’s dead, Linc said. If she had survived she would have found a way to come home. No way would she be hiding out in some small Southern town. She had loved Linc. She wouldn’t do that. His mentor was clearly growing senile or suffering from dementia.

Mort was the one to throw up his hands this time. Believe what you will, but know that I watched and analyzed her for days before I came here.

Linc wanted to shake him. The man was pulling out all the stops. Mort, I—

It’s her.

Linc shook his head. Why would she do this?

The resolution in Mort’s eyes held steady. If you don’t believe me, go see for yourself. What’ve you got to lose?

Nothing. The agonizing truth sank deeper into Linc’s bones. He had lost everything seven years ago. The day his wife died trying to bring down a major West Coast scumbag, Linc had, for all intents and purposes, died with her.

Just go, Mort urged. Lori’s alive.

Chapter Two

Blossom, Tennessee, Monday, June 27, 11:30 a.m.

That guy is back.

Mia Grant smoothed the plaster she’d just spread with her trowel before turning to her friend. What guy? She knew perfectly well what guy Tina Marie meant, but Mia had learned quickly to defuse the teenage girl’s fancies and suspicions or suffer the consequences.

Reviews for Broken

[mitabird · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Broken was not at all what I expected. It's an emotionally draining (in a good and bad way) story about a woman named Sadie, her husband Adam, and Joe, a man she meets once a month who tells her stories of his sexual escapades. I was instantly drawn into Sadie's life and what she and her husband had to endure. I did end up skimming through some of the sex scenes; I wanted to keep reading the meat of the story. I recommend it.
4.5 stars

[rosetyper9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I purchased this book because there was a lot of talk about it on twitter and I hadn't known of it's existence, which is off because I am a big fan of Megan Hart. Anyway, people were talking so I thought, why not, check it out. I didn't have the same reaction that everyone else seemed to have. Yes, it was an excellent book, but I didn't get the same emotional connection that everyone else did.

Ms. Hart writes fabulous erotica that has a slight twist to the plot or ending and it's never cookie cutter, this book is definitely not cookie cutter and it has a lot of emotional depth. There is a development level to the characters that is astounding. I didn't get a strong connection to Joe, he just seemed like an asshole through the whole thing, I did connect with the heroine but not as closely as everyone else seemed to.

The sensuality in this book is top notch, there are few erotica writers who are the same level as Megan Hart and I have enjoyed almost every book she has written. If you like a darkly sensual erotic fiction with strong emotion undertones this book is for you.

[cmblaker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

OMG!! Recommended to me, thought it was a romance---but much deeper!! Made me cry, more than once! Well, maybe it was the timing...hehe...

[capnrandm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stake through the heart *wow*. This book is such a visceral portrayal of extremes. Passion and lonliness and grief and love. I've always liked how Hart doesn't gloss over the messy side of life, and BROKEN certainly exemplifies that. I'm also impressed by the pacing and narrative flow, best Hart book I've read thus far. Very, very memorable.

[ridley_ · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Been thinking about this lately, and decided to revise my score down from 5*. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got at the book.

I'd have to re-read it to write an in-depth review, but here's a quick and dirty list of why I changed my rating.

1. It's an extremely negative treatment of disability. I originally loved the book so much because of Adam. He was more familiar to me than any other disabled character I've run across, and I loved seeing my own experiences and frustrations voiced by someone else. Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the more I hated how he was treated by the story. Here's the most realistic disabled character I've seen, and he really is just a cheap plot vehicle there to make Sadie seem tragic. All these things he does that made me like him so much - asking for a divorce, yelling at the nurse, needling Sadie - weren't meant to show the depth of his character or a man resisting dehumanization by a million cuts, they were meant to make me feel bad that Sadie was stuck married to him.

2. Fuck Sadie. Seriously. Fuck that cheating, self-centered, self-pitying, patronizing bitch. She treats her husband like a burdensome patient then is not only surprised when he wants a divorce, she's offended by how ungrateful he is of how much she's done for him. What a prize.

3. Hart forgot to write a character arc for Sadie. Even though I hate the bitch, I might've enjoyed the story if she grew as a person. If Hart challenged, rather than reinforced, society's negative biases towards disability, this would've been an amazing read. But Sadie never faces her flaws. She doesn't learn anything from her actions. In fact, I have to assume that the book doesn't think she's flawed at all. "Of course she resents her burdensome husband, who wouldn't. Here. Have this able bodied husband replacement. You've earned it." It's all really too ableist for words.

4. She kills Adam off rather than has them divorce. I guess this was supposed to make me feel bad for Sadie. What it actually did was dehumanize Adam even further. Adam was there just to make Sadie look like a victim, and Joe was her reward for being a trooper. Fuck Sadie.

Honestly, this is an ableist abomination. It's sad that everyone seems to think Sadie's the victim in this story. She's the embodiment of every negative stereotype there is of disability. That's what makes this a depressing book.

Only thing giving this more than one star is Adam. I still love him.

[aussie_bookworm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am conflicted with this one. on one hand I love the Raw emotions and The strenght that Sadie shows in dealing with a horrific accident that leaves her husband quadriplegic. It shows wonderful depth and the connections between people as Sadie tries to live a life where her husband is angry and hurtful all the time and a life of fantasy in which she imagines that she is someone else.

On the other hand I disliked the use of the C word a lot. I do read erotica and I enjoy it, I understand it is suppose to be fantastical and that dirty talk can be a turn on but that one word is the only one I can't stomach so call me a prude but I loved the storyline not so much the swearing.

[reneebooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

You may be able to tell from the blurb above that this book is written in first person. This is Sadie Danning's story. On the first Friday of every month she has lunch on a park bench with a man she only knows as Joe. Each month Joe tells her an erotic story about a sexual encounter while Sadie imagines herself as the woman in the story. But Sadie is married.In a strictly definitive sense she is cheating on her husband but I can't condemn her for it. This is not a story about infidelity. Sadie deeply loves her husband Adam. But a serious accident has left him a quadriplegic. Adam is bitter and angry and has emotionally withdrawn from their marriage. Sadie is a therapist so during the day she is helping her patients and in the evenings and on weekends she is taking care of her husband's physical needs. But no one is taking care of Sadie. She doesn't want to cheat on Adam (and doesn't in the physical sense) but these once a month lunches with Joe are an emotional release where she can feel like a woman. I'm convinced that all people need love and they need to be touched. Without it something detrimental happens to their emotional and mental well-being. There is a powerfully emotional scene when during a massage Sadie realizes it has been a very long time since she has been touched and she has an emotional breakdown. It was heart wrenching and I cried along with her. The amazing thing was that the masseuse just continued on and said it happens all the time. I can believe this. Touch is a powerful thing.At first I wanted to hate Joe for his easy sexual conquests and one night stands, but gradually I became convinced that Joe was actually falling for Sadie and was in a way seducing her. In fact at one point I started to think he was making these stories up for her sake. That's my opinion, others may see something else.Broken is not a romance but there is love here and hope and I read the last page with a sense of optimism for Sadie's future happiness. I couldn't stop thinking about it long after I had closed the book. Sadie's inner dialogue is compelling and her loneliness especially painful to read. The book is dark and pushes the boundaries of morality and I found it moving. Broken might make some readers uncomfortable but I loved it. It's about real imperfect people with real faults and problems. GRADE: A-

[itsamekatrina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This story was so moving. I suggest it be read by all. Added to my all-time favs. 5+++ stars!

[stephxsu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

On the first Friday of each month, psychologist Sadie meets the handsome yet enigmatic Joe on “their” bench. Over lunch, Joe tells Sadie of his latest sexual adventure with such detail that Sadie finds herself transported into his stories, wishing she could be one of the women. Instead, in real life, Sadie spends much of her time taking care of her quadriplegic husband, Adam. Once, Adam and Sadie were blissfully happy, ensconced in the happiness of having one another and needing no one else. Now, however, Adam pulls further and further away, and Sadie craves physical touch and intimacy so badly it hurts. Caught between two men—one a shadow of her true love, the other an not-dared-for hope for her future—Sadie must discover who she is and what makes her happy.I’ve never read erotica before, but I think it’s safe to say that this is one of the really good ones out there. The sex scenes are hot without being overboard or uncomfortable. Megan Hart also does a fantastic job developing the characters: Sadie may be a little generic (though still relatable) due to her narrator status, but Adam is a well realized portrait of a brilliant man trapped inside a useless body, and Joe, while originally enigmatic, is also consistent enough from escapade to escapade that he becomes appreciatively real.If you’re reading this for the sex scenes, the in-between plot can feel a bit slow, but that’s also what makes this book so much more than simply literary porn: we become actually invested in the characters and do not think of them as simply sex objects. If you’re looking for good characterization and a good plot, pick up BROKEN, with its classy-not-trashy writing and plot. You’ll want to pass this around to your open-minded friends so that you can enjoy this together.

[lauren_dane · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All the usual disclaimers apply - I know Megan, she’s my friend and we’ve given each other nicknames and all that stuff. Still, she’s not ensorcelled me so I’m incapable of an actual honest opinion on her book although dude, if she had that power it would be so cool, I’d totally make her use it on my behalf. Anyway, I digress…Broken is a lot of things. It’s one of those books that stays with you a really long time after you finish because there are a lot of layers to it. In my opinion, it’s the best thing Megan has written and she’s a damned good writer so that should say something. Each time Sadie sits next to Joe and we hear a tale of his latest conquest, we’re really drawing down another layer of Sadie. Whatever Broken is about, I can tell you what it’s not about - Broken is not about infidelity. I want to make that clear up front. Sadie loves Adam, her husband. But Adam has withdrawn himself emotionally after an accident has left him a quadroplegic. She’s lost him in many ways even though he’s there physically. Her entire being centers around his care and schedule - it isn’t that she hates him or wishes he didn’t exist, it isn’t that she wants to sleep with Joe behind Adam’s back. Her life has made her into a mechanism - she takes care of everyone else and she doesn’t get much emotional feedback because her husband has lost himself and she’s helpless to help him regain what he’s lost. So for that one brief time every month, she’s unfettered from all that responsibility and context and she gets to be a woman. She wants to be held and listened to and those brief times once a month as she sits and listens to Joe tell his stories, she can transport herself elsewhere in her head. Sadie’s loneliness is sharp and painful at times. Her loss throbbed in my gut as I read. Her connection to Joe, his attraction to her, her committment to Adam and her embracing her life no matter what it has become creates a book that sent me reeling over and over.Broken is not an easy book. It’s not lighthearted and romantic. It’s an unflinching look into someone’s inner life. I cried when I read Broken. It made me furious. It made me laugh and grumble. It drove me to email Megan a few times and give her what for. Broken is evocative and deep and disturbing and yet, it’s uplifting too. Because Sadie can be any of us, you know? And she survives and rises and finds her way in a world that could easily drive her to give up for let go of the things that anchor her - to her life, to her husband, to everything she finds important. She’s not a saint, she doesn’t take care of Adam because she loves the hairshirt, she takes care of him because he’s her husband and she loves him and it’s the right thing to do and she believes that. That makes Sadie a character that rises above so many other characters in books. She’s flawed, yes, but she’s *real*Broken is erotic, yes. The sex is integral to the story as a vehicle for Sadie’s mental escape and also as a glimpse into Joe. The story is in first person but I really felt I knew Joe and his insecurities as he told his stories. In them he’s not a sex god, his vision of himself is interesting and pretty unflinching. The moments between Sadie and Adam are heartwrenchingly beautiful and skillfully done and the connection between Joe and Sadie is powerful as well.I’ve gone back and forth writing this, it’s hard to distill what Broken is because I think everyone will read Sadie with their own filters. And because Broken is a complex book. It’s not easy. But it’s worth it. Broken is, without question, an amazing book and I truly hope it gets the attention it deserves. Technically, it’s mindblowing. As an author, when I read it, I was floored by the skill Megan used as a writer. The story is marvelous but she tells it perfectly.