Who Wrote 'The Passenger'?

“Ngh... Stop touching me like that...” I found myself squeezed against a burly man during a trip. Being naturally sensitive, his touch was overwhelmingly stimulating. I could not help but tremble and pant beside him. However, I never expected that halfway through the journey, he would eagerly lift me onto his lap. “The seat’s so hard. Your butt must be sore. Let me give you a proper massage!” By the end of the trip, he had taken everything from me...

Missing the last bus home shouldn’t have mattered. For Daniel Rogers, however, it’s about to matter a lot more. When Daniel is picked up by a stranger, Adrian Williams, while walking home one rainy night, he doesn’t think much of it. Polite, observant, and uncomfortably familiar, Adrian is a man Daniel can’t quite place. It’s supposed to end there, of course. But then Daniel meets Adrian again. And then again. Until Daniel realizes that these meetings aren’t quite so coincidental. Adrian doesn’t just see Daniel, Adrian understands Daniel. Too well, if you ask Daniel. As if Adrian knows Daniel’s deepest, darkest secrets, the ones Daniel keeps locked safely away from prying eyes. Caught up despite himself, Daniel finds himself opening up to Adrian, feeling something he hasn’t felt in years: seen, understood, desired. But Daniel can’t shake off the feeling that something is terribly wrong, that Adrian Williams, while not quite a stranger, is definitely not quite a friend. Is Daniel to walk away from something he doesn’t fully understand, or risk everything for someone who makes him feel like he’s found home? Some people don’t just show up by accident. They show up to stay.

“Sir, I beg you to let me go! Don’t touch me! No!” My voice broke into sobs. The stranger forced me into an uncomfortable position. I wanted to fight back, but he was too strong. Out of shame and confusion, I did everything I could to free myself from his grasp. However, the more I fought back, the more unsettled I became. Eventually, I lost my rationality.

I disappeared in the year Sebastian Ferraro loved me most. For thirteen years, he never got an explanation. And for thirteen years, I punished myself by never watching his games, never saying his name, and never thinking about the promise we made in that old hockey rink. Until I returned to this city and saw a faded poster outside the abandoned arena. Sebastian was only seventeen in the photo. He stood at the center of the ice, bright-eyed and fearless, with one sentence printed beneath him: Wait for me past the blue line. That was his promise to me. And I had missed it for thirteen years. Later, I collapsed inside his arena. When I woke up, the boy I had once failed was standing beside my hospital bed. Only he was no longer a boy. He was a professional hockey star. The heir to the Ferraro crime family. And a man whose fiancée was about to marry him. I wanted to tell him why I had left all those years ago. But he looked at me and said coldly, “The past is over. Don’t cause any misunderstandings.” That was when I finally understood. I no longer had the right to disturb his life. So I smiled, swallowed every truth I had kept buried, and booked a flight to New Zealand. I thought leaving was the last thing I could do for him. Until that plane disappeared from radar. The news spread through the whole city. Everyone said Sebastian Ferraro lost control at the airport. He went through the passenger list again and again, screaming my name like a man who had already lost everything.

Blind pianist Elena Hart has spent her life proving that darkness cannot silence her. Gifted with extraordinary hearing, she can recognize people by their footsteps, breathing, and even the rhythm of their heartbeat. But one quiet night, while practicing alone in an abandoned concert hall, her remarkable gift becomes a curse. Hidden behind the stage, Elena overhears a cold-blooded murder. The killer finds her moments later. When he discovers she's blind, he makes a decision that changes both their lives. Instead of pulling the trigger, he takes her with him, convinced she can never identify his face. Damien Cross has never failed a mission. As the syndicate's most feared assassin, he trusts no one and leaves no witnesses behind. Yet the woman he abducts is unlike anyone he has ever encountered. Elena doesn't need eyes to uncover secrets. Within days, she has memorized every sound in his hideout, every lie in his voice, and every weakness he tries to hide. As a powerful criminal empire closes in, hunter and captive are forced into an uneasy alliance. With corrupt officials, ruthless assassins, and hidden betrayals surrounding them, Elena and Damien must decide whether trust is worth risking their lives. But Elena is keeping a secret of her own. She remembers far more about the night of the murder than Damien realizes. The sounds she carries in her memory could expose a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of power and make her the most dangerous witness alive. In a world where silence can kill and every heartbeat tells a story, surviving may be impossible. But sometimes, the last witness is the only one capable of revealing the truth.

The heaviness in the air is the prequel to the Across the desk. However it is told from Max's point of view. He realizes that he is stuck in life and he really wants to move on but he doesn't know how. His first time going out with a person he is accused of the worst thing a man can be accused of. Though the truth came out later he had already lost his place in his family and in the town. He never trusted women again. He knows that it all revolves around one women though. Then one day he is getting ready to go over his files for his job as an detective he sees one that he doesn't know. He opens the file and it is her, the woman who ruined his life. She was now dead. He is assigned the case to find her murderer. This is his chance to redeem himself and finally put the past to bed. He has to revisit everything in this woman's life and with some twists and turns he finally finishes the case with a jaw dropping person accused of the murder. Then he goes through the trial and he makes himself a promise. When the case is finally over he will move on and find the family he wants to have. The day the verdict for the last of the trials comes to an end Deanna Watson walks into his office. This is his chance to finally do something about his slight obsession with the tiny student. This story goes right into the across the desk and answers the questions of how Max is the way he is when it comes to dealing with the Watson family.