The wail of the siren only intensifies my anxiety. I’m holding him in my arms pressing a dish towel on his wound attempting to control the bleeding. “Shhhhh, we’re getting you help,” I whisper in his ear and kiss his head. The police car makes a sharp right turn, and we are jostled in the back seat. He whimpers in pain from the sudden movement, and I try to console him again. I stroke his hair gently, “Everything is going to be okay.” But will it? How is any of this going to be okay?
“I’ll need your account of what happened once we get him inside,” the officer says from the front seat. “We’re almost there.” I can see the hospital in the distance. The blood is seeping through the towel and puddling in my palm. I have to look away to gather my thoughts.
The officer pulls into the parking lot and before I’m even aware of what’s happening, arms are lifting him out of my lap onto a gurney. “We’ll take it from here ma’am,” someone says. I look down at my lap. All that remains is a blood-soaked dish towel, worry and confusion.
Five Weeks Earlier (Monday, Week 1 – November in Philadelphia)
I’m just about to hang up my apron and clock out when the bell above the café door jingles. I look up to see three handsome young guys walk in and sit down in my section. Okay, I guess I can stay for one more table…
I re-tie my apron and approach their booth. “Hey guys. You’re the last lucky customers of my shift today so let’s make it matter.”
The one with dark wavy hair and deep brown eyes raises an eyebrow and tilts his head. “Make it matter?”
“Yeah,” I say with confident authority, shifting my weight onto one hip. “Easy order, quick turn-around, good tip. You do your part, I’ll do mine. So, what can I getcha?”
Dark-hair smirks. “Okay, I’ll have the supreme western omelet with a side of bacon and a double shot of espresso.”
“That sounds good,” says the sandy-blonde guy across from him.
“Make it three,” mutters the third guy, who’s wearing a skull cap and sunglasses indoors like he’s trying not to be recognized.
I tuck my pad and pencil back into my apron and brush a strand of hair behind my ear. “Okay, so scrambled eggs and black coffee all around.”
The dark-haired guy looks up at me with a mischievous grin. “Um, the good tip part of this arrangement might not be headed in the right direction.” His tone is playful and a little fresh.
I smile back meeting his flirtation with my eyes and then up the ante. “Well neither is the easy order, quick turn-around part I mentioned. I’ve already cleaned the espresso machine and we’re two minutes away from switching to the lunch menu, so I’ll be right back with your coffee.” As I turn to leave, I do this sassy little hair flip thing and immediately feel ridiculous. What am I doing?
TWELVE WEEKS OF LOVE & LOSS
Series: A Secrets Trilogy, Book 2
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release: July 2026
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
She had a choice.
Go back to Chris — the man she’d loved since college, the one who’d made her feel chosen and diminished in the same breath. The one who showed up at her boutique three years later like no time had passed, like she owed him a hearing. Persistent. Charming. A little too sure of himself.
Or start fresh.
Rich was different. Attentive in a way that felt like fate — the kind of man who remembered the small things, who made her feel seen in a way she hadn’t in years. Steady. Safe. Present.
Her friends weren’t so sure. Something felt off. The attention was a little too focused. The concern a little too constant. They said it quietly at first, then louder. She heard them.
She chose anyway.
She chose wrong.
By the time Nikki understood what Rich had built around her — the careful architecture of control disguised as devotion — it was already inside everything. Her routines. Her trust. Her sense of herself. The man who told her he only wanted to protect her had become the most dangerous thing in her world.
The most terrifying decisions aren’t made in moments of crisis. They’re made on an ordinary afternoon when someone finally makes you feel safe.
Twelve Weeks of Love & Loss is a pulse-pounding thriller of obsession, deception, and survival — set against the backdrop of a love story that never quite let go. Nikki’s fight isn’t just to escape. It’s to find her way back to herself.
How well do you know the person standing right in front of you?
Meet the author
Rebecca Gould Baeurle has spent a lifetime helping others chase their missions — now she’s chasing one of her own. After a successful career in the nonprofit world spanning education, healthcare, disability inclusion and community-building, she’s traded grant proposal for plot twists with The Secrets Trilogy.
Rebecca lives just outside of Philadelphia (close enough to cheer loudly for the Eagles) and is known to disappear to the Delaware beaches with a good book and an even better cocktail. She’s been married to her college sweetheart, Mike, for 36 years, has two grown children who still keep her on her toes and yes… she really does have a sister she adores.