Novels by Jimmy Barton

My palms trembled as I entered the Sterling mansion's pristine, frigid hallway. Though the polished floors shone under the towering chandeliers, the burden of what I was about to do, what I was going to expose, felt like a stone in my chest. The air was thick with years of buried secrets and falsehoods waiting to be revealed. Though I didn't expect to see her here, there she was. Seated in her normal place beside the great window, Maxwell's mother, Eleanor Sterling, Drawn curtains created a dark shadow around her. The one who had always looked down on me, the one who had never once concealed her dislike for someone like me, someone who didn't belong in their world. Sophia, you've been avoiding me, she remarked with a seductive voice and a predatory grin at the corners of her mouth. "How... to be expected." I did not answer right away. I stepped closer and my eyes narrowed as I evaluated her. She was all the woman I remembered, strong, shrewd, and tenacious. But she was suddenly cha

I could hear the city's hum from my high-rise office, but it felt so far away. I felt as though I were in another planet, one where the only thing that counted was the pressure on my chest. Behind me the legal office's thick door clicked shut; I at last breathed out. "Mr. Sterling, it's good to see you," the lawyer began, his voice all business but his gaze fixed on the stiffness in my stance. I did not answer right away. I ran my fingers through my hair instead, attempting to control my feelings. Never had the burden of my choices felt so great. The legalese, the documents on the desk, the impending fight for Marcus; it was all too much. But I could not give up. Not at this time. "I need you to assist me," I murmured, my voice strong but my hands tightly by my sides. I have to get my son back in my care. I cannot allow her deny him access to me. The attorney moved uncomfortably in his chair. Maxwell, this will be a difficult case. Sophia wishes to keep full custody. There is his

The room felt cramped. Every syllable that left Maxwell's mouth tightened the hold he had on me, so the walls appeared to close in with every passing instant. Breathing was impossible. Not from the air but from the truth's weight. The truth I had been avoiding for three years. Maxwell's gaze pierced me; his jaw was tight with anger. "You've kept this from me for three years," he cried, his voice barely controlled and his words cutting like a knife. Sophia, I merit the truth. My voice was parched, my hands shaking as I attempted to find the words to clarify something I was not prepared to discuss. Something that would alter all. "I... I didn't know how to tell you," I mumbled, the words coming out fractured. "I assumed you wouldn't be interested to know. That it would... destroy everything. Maxwell's look became steely, his face changing from bewilderment to rage. You believe I wouldn't like to know? Though his voice was quiet, the rage in it was clear. "You believe I wouldn't have

I was in the middle of checking a patient's vital signs when I heard it: voices rising in the hallway, an unmistakable buzz of activity. My heart stuttered in my chest. I couldn't help but think that someone or something was about to enter through the door. Then he did. Maxwell Sterling, a man I thought I had forgotten, waited at the entrance. Tall, commanding, the sort of presence that could halt a room in its tracks. His brown hair was a little unkempt, as though today he had not cared about perfection. His piercing blue eyes fixed on mine, and for a brief instant, time itself appeared to stop. His gaze remained steady as he took a hesitant step forward, his tailored suit barely making a sound on the hospital floor. I could not look away or breathe. The years between us vanished as though we were back at that time. But no, I wasn't prepared for this. Not now, not in this manner. My pulse raced in my ears, my feet unexpectedly anchored to the location, my body trapped in the exac