Release Blitz: The Fall by T. Gephart
Title: The Fall
Author: T. Gephart
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: October 23, 2016
Salvation doesn’t exist.
It’s a lie people tell themselves in
the dark, alone so their conscience might be eased. To give them hope
that, in the end, we can all be forgiven.
Except we can’t.
And no amount of praying will change
that.
For me there will be no redemption, and
I will leave this world with the same black heart I entered it with.
The comfort in knowing who I am and
what I am capable of keeps me warmer than any lie of having my soul
saved.
Because I know the truth.
Because I know there is no Heaven.
And there is no Hell.
There is only the fall.
Michael has no one. No family. No Friends. And not a soul in the world cares about him, only a system that tried to break him.
With a strong dislike for
establishments and conformity, he has lived his life as a rogue. A
hired thug with no allegiances except to his own word.
Sofia has grown up in the shadow of her father—one of the most powerful drug lords in the city. She has vowed to bring him to justice, moving through the ranks of the Chicago PD in an effort to be as far removed from her father’s lifestyle as possible.
Two worlds collide when Michael shows up at her door, a gun in his hand and a look in his eyes that terrifies her. Suddenly, Sofia has a price on her head and Michael is the only one who can keep her out of the crossfire.
Prologue
“Please.”
An anguished
scream ripped through the night as the rain pummeled against the
thick stained glass. The heavy splat against the windows was not
unlike the streams of unrelenting tears that rolled down her
face.
Darkness had come, and with it the howling wind
battered at the doors, stirring at the unrest. The fat white candles
that littered the room were the only source of illumination, a
lightning strike killing the power an hour or two before.
The
sisters had gathered, huddled together as mumbled Our Father’s
competed against the sound of the storm, fearing the Devil himself
was knocking at their door.
It wasn’t just the gale
and torrential rain that crackled in the dark. Evil was dense in the
air, rolling in like an all-encompassing fog—heavier than the
thickest winter coat.
Another scream pierced through the
sound of the weather. The very voice tore from her throat like a soul
desperate to leave its earthly vessel.
There was no
hope. It was the sound of death.
“Please,” she
begged. The accumulation of fear and pain weighted in that one word
made the sisters’ skin goose bump like the cold that had yet to
breach the room. “Please, save him.”
Labored breaths
dragged in air behind her chattering
teeth.
“Please.”
“Save.”
“Him.”
It
was more than a plea, and there was no mistake it would be the
woman’s last request.
“Mother?”
Sister
Catherine’s gaze rose to Mother Superior from her place on the
floor. Her knees had been cemented to the very spot for the last ten
hours, but not for prayer like the others. She waited for direction
as blood stained the cold blue stone rock around her. Both the mother
and child were closer to meeting the heavenly Father than the dawn
was to the new day.
“Mother, we’re losing
her.”
Mother’s eyes closed as she drew out a long,
deep breath—Sister Catherine was right—the end was coming
quickly.
“We will do all that we can, child. Be at
peace.” Her hand brushed against the damp forehead of the expectant
mother.
They had been the only words of comfort Mother
could offer without betraying the cloth. She couldn’t lie to her.
Not because of the promise she had made when she had accepted the
habit, but because her very eyes watched as mortality slipped from
the blessed child on the floor, the gray pallor of her skin already
making her look like a corpse.
“One more push.”
Sister Catherine’s attention was refocused, her actions determined
to keep Mother’s promise. “I can see the head, but you need to
help me.”
Sister Catherine’s hands worked swiftly,
her fingers doing their best to work with the limited knowledge she
had. Her calling had come during her second year of medical school;
the important things not yet learned. But she was young, just barely
having accepted her final vows, and her determination to serve was
stronger than her fear.
This was not how she’d
imagined her vocation, but one did not question when it came to
serving the Lord. She would do whatever she needed to do, and tonight
it was the experience of her pre-cloistered life that was desperately
needed.
There were no further words, not from Sister
Catherine nor from the woman who lay in front of her. The last gasps
of energy were needed if the mother was going to be able to birth her
child, and only the Lord himself knew if either of them would
survive.
“Agh!” The mother fell back, the rock
beneath her biting into her skin but she no longer felt pain. Not
from her body at least, her agony had long been numbed. It was the
heaviness in her heart that was her only emotion.
Just a
little more.
She wasn’t sure if it had been Sister
Catherine’s urging or her own internal thought that spoke those
words, but it had been enough to keep her going. Her face strained
from the effort as she bore down through the constant contractions.
It would have to be enough. She had nothing left.
The
child she had carried for nine months slipped from her body, finally
making his entrance as she whispered her offering to the Father. That
offering being her own sacrifice.
Take me, she prayed.
Let him live, take me.
Her eyelids closed as Sister
Catherine delivered the son, but there had been no cry. Not from the
mother and not from her child, the eerie silence settling into the
room as she accepted her fate. In fact, there had been no sound as
she took her last breath, her eyes not having the luxury of gazing on
the boy she’d been so desperate to save. Whether or not she’d
succeeded, beyond her control.
“He’s breathing,
barely.” Sister Catherine’s hands swaddled the boy with her own
veil, his entrance into the world only a few moments before. “He’s
weak, but he’s fighting.” She hoped it would be enough. They had
already lost the mother; losing the boy would surely be too
much.
“A fighter. Yes, we shall call him Michael.”
Mother genuflected beside the altar, offering quick word of thanks
before she rose to her feet. There wasn’t a lot of time; they
needed to get the child to the hospital and fast.
“Blessed
child, Michael.” The tiniest drop of holy water rolled off the
infant’s forehead. Mother’s hand hovered above it, her lips
moving quickly as the sacred words of baptism spilled from them. It
was the best she could do without a priest, but at least she’d
given him hope.
“There’s no time for an ambulance.
Sister Mary, bring the car around. I will keep him breathing if
needed.” Sister Catherine’s resolve kicked in. He would live. He
would not die on the cold stained floor of the church.
“Go.”
Mother clutched at the crucifix that hung close to her breast and
slowly removed it from her neck. “I will care for the mother.”
The gold chain placed gently upon the lifeless body of the mother who
would never know the child she had birthed.
Sisters
Catherine and Mary wasted no time; the boy’s breaths shallow as
they ran out of the church into the courtyard toward the old used
sedan. The rain soaked their clothes in minutes, the doors closing
quickly behind them as the engine roared to life. Thankfully the
hospital was not more than a few miles away.
And while
it had been Sister Catherine’s previous expertise that had kept
Michael alive, Sister Mary’s reputation for her lead foot was
exactly what they needed now. The church and the convent quickly
faded in the rearview mirror as they sped away.
Catherine
and Mary’s attention had been about reaching the hospital, while
Mother knelt beside the woman whom she hadn’t known nearly long
enough, but had loved like her own child. She remembered the very day
she had come to them, the day they had accepted her as one of their
own.
She had been so brave; even as the end came her
strength had not waned. Fearless, even in the face of her own death.
She was safe now, seated with the Father, free from pain and sorrow.
The Lord would protect her and do what Mother had been unable to do.
God forgive her, while it had been Sister Catherine’s hands that
had been bloodied, it had been Mother’s who had worn the biggest
stain.
Had her vow of silence been responsible for the
death?
“Should we call the police?” Sister Bridget
offered, her bright eyes blinking away tears they all felt welling.
“Mother? What would you like us to do?”
It was a
question Mother had been contemplating for weeks. What she would do
when the time came and the child was born. Had she done the right
thing? They should have taken her to a hospital. It was insanity to
try and handle this within the walls of their sanctuary, and yet it
was exactly what she had promised. No one would ever know about the
child. Not how he came to be in this world or who his parents had
been, his existence hidden by not only her resolve, but that of her
devotion to the mother.
No. No one could know.
The
plan was set.
The boy was to be reported as abandoned,
left in the church’s vestibule with no indication of who the mother
was. It was a lie and one she would take to her grave. Her father
would judge her, but when that time came she knew he would
understand.
“No. No police.” Mother’s voice was
hoarse as she removed the veil from her head and covered the body.
“Our sister is gone. We will see that she is buried with the
faithful at the back, but there can be no record.”
“Mother?”
There was a collective gasp, the very fabric of their lives called
into question as she told them her plan.
“We must
honor her. We must give her the peace in death she was unable to gain
in life. I have prayed on it and it is the only way. In this you must
trust.” Her voice maintained its steely resolve, even if underneath
her heart was breaking.
Did she do everything she
could?
God help her, she couldn’t be sure she
had.
“Save him.” Mother’s eyes rose to the
crucifix mounted on the wall, the words more a prayer than a request.
“Please, Lord. Save him.”
Her thoughts returned to
the boy, his mother giving her own life so that he might live.
Only time would tell whether it had
been enough.
T Gephart is an indie author from
Melbourne, Australia.
T's approach to life has been somewhat
unconventional. Rather than going to University, she jumped on a
plane to Los Angeles, USA in search of adventure. While this first
trip left her somewhat underwhelmed and largely depleted of funds it
fueled her appetite for travel and life experience.
With a
rather eclectic resume, which reads more like the fiction she writes
than an actual employment history, T struggled to find her niche in
the world.
While on a subsequent trip the United States in
1999, T met and married her husband. Their whirlwind courtship and
interesting impromptu convenience store wedding set the tone for
their life together, which is anything but ordinary. They have lived
in Louisiana, Guam and Australia and have traveled extensively
throughout the US. T has two beautiful young children and one four
legged child, Woodley, the wonder dog.
An avid reader, T
became increasingly frustrated by the lack of strong female
characters in the books she was reading. She wanted to read about a
woman she could identify with, someone strong, independent and
confident and who didn't lack femininity. Out of this need, she
decided to pen her first book, A Twist of Fate. T set herself the
challenge to write something that was interesting, compelling and yet
easy enough to read that was still enjoyable. Pulling from her own
past "colorful" experiences and the amazing personalities
she has surrounded herself with, she had no shortage of inspiration.
With a strong slant on erotic fiction, her core characters are
empowered women who don't have to sacrifice their femininity. She
enjoyed the process so much that when it was over she couldn't let it
go.
T loves to travel, laugh and surround herself with
colorful characters. This inevitably spills into her writing and
makes for an interesting journey - she is well and truly enjoying the
ride!
Based on her life experiences, T has
plenty of material for her books and has a wealth of ideas to keep
you all enthralled.
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