Fifteen years ago I met Sayer Wesley. I fell in love with him. I promised I would never leave him. I swore nothing could break us apart.

Five years ago I broke my promise. I ran away. I took the one secret that could destroy us both and disappeared.

Five days ago I thought I saw him.

I knew it was impossible. Sayer was locked away, serving a deserved sentence in federal prison. He couldn’t find me.

He wouldn’t find me. I was too good at hiding. Too good at surviving.

Because if Sayer ever found me, there would be hell to pay for a plethora of sins. The worst of which, he didn’t even know about.

Five hours ago, I told myself I was crazy.

Five minutes ago, I saw him again.

Five seconds ago, I was too late.

Series:

The Confidence Game

Book 1

Book Type:

Romantic Suspense

Review + Excerpt: Constant

Thrumming with tension, Rachel Higginson’s latest will keep you on the edge of your seat. CONSTANT—her new romantic suspense—is the first in a duet and centers around Caroline Valero, who left a life you weren’t supposed to be able to leave.

She grew up as part of a brutal Russian mob syndicate, branded as one of their own, stuck in a life she never chose for herself. You never left the bratva, that had been made abundantly clear.

She’d met him as a child, he was just a few years older, hungry and scared, pulled into a job that would likely mean he’d disappear—for good—at its end. Caroline had saved him and he had risen through the ranks over the years that followed.

They’d loved each other fiercely, in a dangerous world where caring for someone meant they were leverage when it counted the most. And while she dreamed of escape, he asserted he couldn’t desert the only family he’d ever had. She promised she wouldn’t leave him…

But five years ago, she left him, left the life without a trace. She started over—had to—always watching her back.

She never expected Sayer to find her, but he did, and he’s back, playing a game she can’t figure out, threatening everything she’d built and the ones she loves the most.

This was an addictive first installment. I loved the story, the tension and the suspense, the angst and longing. Rachel Higginson is such an amazing storyteller and I can’t help but devour anything she sends my way. The ending definitely had me desperately wishing I had the next book, but I can’t wait to see what happens next.

“All right, see you ladies later tonight. You going to be okay?” Sayer’s question was directed at me.

“Fine,” I answered quickly. “Here, let me give you your coat back.”

“We’ll go shopping for a new one,” Frankie suggested. Then with a sly smile she added, “Maybe we’ll run into those guys at the mall again. This time you have to give that one your number though. He was so hot, Caro.”

Sayer’s blue eyes flared. “What guy?”

Oh my God. I was going to kill Frankie. Kill her. This was so embarrassing. And it was only going to get worse. My bright red cheeks were about to catch fire any second, then I would start Sayer’s coat on fire and then I would just die. I would just burn up and die from humiliation.

“What guy, Six?” Sayer demanded using the nickname he’d had for me ever since we were ten.

“Oh, just these prep school guys we met at the mall last weekend,” Frankie prattled on. “One of them was so into her. He was like obsessed with her.”

“Frankie, enough,” Sayer growled. “I asked Caroline.”

I licked dry lips. Nobody ever used my full name. Ever. Unless it was Sayer. And only occasionally. Like when it was just the two of us. Or right now… when he was obviously pissed off.

“Caroline,” he repeated firmly.

Clearing my throat, I fumbled with the zipper of his coat. “Like she said, prep school guys. They were just messing around. We don’t even know their names.”

“You’re into them, though? Or the one guy? The hot guy?”

Could his glare get any more intense? I was surprised it hadn’t sliced me in two by now. “I’m not into him. Geez, I don’t even know him.”

Sayer stepped closer to me and it wasn’t sweet or protective or nice. He was trying to be intimidating. He was trying to be the tough guy our bosses paid him to be. “And that’s what you want?” he pushed. “You want to get to know this prep school kid?”

I glared up at him briefly before I turned back to the zipper, struggling to get it down the frustrating seam. Argh! I was only ever a fumbling idiot around him. And right now it was pissing me off! “Maybe. He seemed nice. And bonus, I’m pretty sure his plans tonight don’t include breaking and entering or grand theft.”

Sayer grabbed my wrist in a tight grip, stalling me from ripping his coat off and throwing it in his face. “Yeah, but yours do. Don’t forget that when you’re playing rich kid in the city.”

I was so mad I could have sworn I was about to breathe fire. He had hit all my insecurities. All of them. I wasn’t even interested in that stupid prep school kid. To be honest, he’d been a pretentious asshole and I didn’t like the way he leered at me. That’s why I hadn’t given him my number. Or even my name. Frankie had only brought him up to get a rise out of Sayer.

Only it had backfired on all of us.

“Don’t worry about me, Sayer. I can handle myself. The job comes first, right? Always?”

His jaw ticked, the silent anger vibrating through him. Everybody knew Sayer was the pakhan’s errand boy. He would do anything for them. This job was his life.

This job was all he cared about.

Not Frankie. Not Gus. And certainly not me.

“You better be there tonight, Six. On time. Or so help me god, I’ll—”

My chin wobbled, betraying me. “What? Tell on me? Report me? Maybe they’ll fire me and I’ll finally be free of this godforsaken place.”

“Don’t fucking talk like that. You know the consequences.”

I bit my tongue to keep from saying something I regretted. I did know the consequences.

Death.

A bullet between the eyes.

“I’ll be there tonight,” I hissed. “You don’t have to be such an asshole about it though.” I finally got the zipper free of the fabric surrounding it and yanked it down. “Here, take your coat.”

Sayer stepped back, the dragon inside him retreating. “Go to the mall. But you better wear that fucking coat.” He took another step back. “Frankie, don’t let her take it off.”

“That’s the dumbest—”

He ignored my outrage. “See you tonight, Six.”

“I hate him,” I told Frankie when he’d walked away. “And I hate his nickname for me.”

She jumped down from the wall and bumped her shoulder with mine. “You’re such a liar.”

I sighed, hating the most that she was right. “Why does he have to make things so difficult though? Why can’t he just be a nice guy and ask me out?”

“Because you would be bored by a nice guy. You’d never waste your time with someone uncomplicated or upright. You can fight it all you want, Caro, but you were born for this life.”

I turned to my friend. She had a baseball cap on over her braided long hair. “Yeah, well that makes two of us.”

Her expression flattened. “Let’s go find those prep school guys. We’ll stash his jacket in a locker. I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Smiling at her idea, we headed for the mall. We even stashed the jacket and found some guys to hang out with. They weren’t the same prep school kids, but they might as well have been. Because the outcome was the same.

I didn’t give out my number.

I didn’t find anyone capable of keeping my attention.

And the entire stupid time I kept thinking about the coat and the boy it belonged to and that even though I wasn’t actually wearing his coat, I was so wearing his coat.

And I didn’t think I’d ever be able to take it off.

Not in the way that mattered.

As messed up as Sayer Wesley was, I was as entangled in this game of ours as he was. As long as Sayer was in my life there would never be anyone else.

The next day, I rolled out of bed in the early afternoon, exhausted by our late night success at the Mayor’s. A new winter coat was waiting for me in the living room with a note from my dad. He felt bad for losing my other one. Oh, and he would replace my college money as soon as he could. I didn’t need to worry about anything.

Only my dad didn’t do shit like that… ever. This had Sayer written all over it. He’d intervened. He’d stuck up for me to my dad. He’d somehow convinced Leon to do the decent thing.

So yeah, I did have something to worry about. I had Sayer to worry about.

I had my weak, infatuated heart to worry about.

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