How Does Jail Bird End?

“Do not let her touch you ever again.” “Why not? She’s my…girlfriend. You’re just my sneaky link cellie.” The rage in Jordan’s eyes is volcanic and terrifying. He takes a step closer, voice dropping to a threat disguised as a promise. “Try me, Preppy… and I swear I’ll kiss you in front of every guard, every inmate, every pair of judging eyes in this hellhole. Then we'll see who you truly belong to.” Quincy Laurent—alias, richie rich—had the kind of life people envy. He's got a future paved in gold. One mistake shattered it all. Now he’s Blackbridge’s prettiest, trapped in the same cell with Blackbridge's most chaotic, Jordan Vex. Jordan is everything Quincy is not. inked, dangerous, magnetic, a walking storm with eyes that see right through the armor Quincy didn’t know he still had. They clash instantly. Quincy hates the chaos Jordan embodies… and hates even more how drawn he is to it. While the prison changes him, Jordan ruins him. And the desire he believes is a fantasy is tested when he finally learns who Jordan is.

Jessie Stewart spent twelve years as an orphan before she was finally brought home to the Stewart family. For the first time in her life, she had parents and brothers. But the very people who promised to love and protect her turned against her. Bruce Stewart, her father, who once vowed she'd be his cherished daughter, told her that if she had any conscience at all, she wouldn't fight Mia Stewart, her adoptive sister, for a man. Her brothers, who swore they'd spoil her rotten, dragged her onto an operating table just to draw blood for Mia. As for her fiancé, Henry Lawson, every time things got dangerous, he chose to protect Mia instead of her. Three years later, Jessie's parents were on their knees in tears. Her once arrogant brothers slapped themselves in shame. Even her arrogant ex-fiancé knelt at her feet. They all begged her to come back. Little did they know, Jessie's heart had long since been closed off during those countless nights of pain and betrayal. She had already met the love of her life. In the years to come, she would never again be alone. He tended to her every need. To him, Jessie was everything and more.

My sister, Judy Easton, skipped school and started dating way too early, but our parents sent me, the straight-A kid, to a juvenile behavioral correction center, saying it was to teach her a lesson. "Judy, take a good look at William. Act up again, and you're going there, too." My family showed up to visit every so often. The first year, an instructor blew out my eardrum. I was covered in blood, gripping the bars, begging for help. Dad pointed at me while talking to Judy. "Look at him. Still can't follow simple instructions. If you don't listen to us, you'll end up just like him." The second year, the instructor broke both my legs. My parents stood over my bed and said, "Look at you, lying there like a useless wimp. We came all this way to see you, and this is the welcome we get? How ungrateful." The third year, the instructor pumped me full of hormones. I swelled up like a whale. The instructor smirked. "That's probably shot now. Let's see how you go after girls now." Judy stood outside the cage holding her acceptance letter to a top college. The whole family looked pleased. "William, Judy got into a top college. You did your part. I'm taking you home." I blinked, my vision hazy, trying to make sense of it. "Who's William? They all call me Runt."

After being released from my three-year sentence, Zoe Sanders finally found me in an underground fight club. The moment she saw me, she grabbed me by the collar and punched me across the face, her eyes burning red with fury. "Henry Goldman, who gave you the nerve to disappear like this? "And what the hell have you done to yourself?" I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and laughed carelessly. "One punch, one hundred thousand. "If you’re still angry, feel free to keep going. I could use the money for this year’s rent." Her fists trembled uncontrollably, but her voice softened. "Come home with me... apologize to Ronald Green. "He’s always been kind-hearted. He already forgave you for framing him." Her gaze swept over the scars covering my body, something unreadable flickering in her eyes. "Look at yourself. Covered in blood like this... what’s the difference between you and a stray dog digging through garbage?" My body stiffened. Then I turned and walked away. What she did not know was this: In prison, blood and violence were the only ways I learned to survive. "Don’t forget," she shouted after me, "I’m still your fiancée!" My footsteps stopped. How could I forget? Three years ago, on the night of our engagement, Ronald drugged me and sent me to a black-market auction. I was stripped of all dignity and sold like merchandise. That night, I became the laughingstock of the entire city. And the person who signed the papers that sold me… was my fiancée herself.

​"They called him the Prison Boss —a bloodthirsty monster who ruled the cells and terrified the guards. And I was the rookie cop they threw to the wolves." ​Valeska wanted to earn her badge without her multi-millionaire father’s influence. But her bravery backfires when she’s assigned to Area 4—the personal kingdom of the notorious brutal prison boss, Dante Cross. ​She swore she wouldn’t break. She swore she would look the monster in the eye and show no fear. ​But pride comes before the fall. ​Cornered in the dark, the Prison Boss rapes her, shattering her courage and leaving her trembling, terrified, and bearing a scar that will haunt her forever. ​Worse than the pain is the look in his eyes. The amused glint he wore whenever she challenged or ordered him around is gone. In its place is a dark, cold, soul-wrenching gaze that freezes the blood in her veins. ​She thought it was a one-time nightmare. But as he looks down at her with that terrifying, absolute possession, she realizes the truth... ​He isn't done with her. This is only the beginning.

My husband tells me he's a wanted fugitive. He doesn't want to drag me down with him, so he turns himself in and tells me to marry another. My heart aches for him. I scrimp and save to raise our son while waiting for him to be released from prison. It's only when my hair has gone gray that I learn the truth—I see him holding his true love's hand as they go shopping. They buy luxury products like they cost nothing. Only then do I understand that he pretended to be thrown behind bars to be rid of me and our son. When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the day my husband pretended to be a fugitive. I immediately call the police and give them the evidence of his crimes. He likes acting like a fugitive, doesn't he? He can spend the rest of his life behind bars, then.