Maarja Doe owns a moving company that’s been hired to move Mrs. Bouchard’s precious paintings and objects to her new home in Montana. The Bouchards are the undisputed leaders of an Old World/New World crime syndicate that is slowly transitioning into legitimate business, but those old values of revenge and retribution are alive and well. Maarja knows that for a fact because twenty three years ago, her mother ignited an explosion that killed herself and Mrs. Bouchard’s husband and it’s haunted Maarja ever since. For she was there that day too…
Mrs. Bouchard doesn’t seem to recognize her, but her son, Dante, watches Maarja closely and has a million questions . Questions that seem benign but she knows he doesn’t miss anything. He was there that day too and she remembers him—his arrogance, his curiosity, his judgment. And just as they’re all about to part, the move completed, Maarja is standing with Mrs. Bouchard when she hears a crash…and then the roar of an explosion.
Mrs. Bouchard saved her life all of those years ago and Maarja is determined to return the favor and get her out of the burning building. But when Mrs. Bouchard dies in Dante’s arms, Maarja loses control. She hoped she could escape the past, that the overwhelming fear she lived with on a daily basis would eventually subside. But it all comes roaring back—the desperate sound of her mother’s voice, the feel of the flames on her face, the panic that every moment could be her last.
Dante Bouchard was there that day too. And this second explosion binds them even closer together than the first one did. They’ve both known unfathomable loss and grief and they both know that the people responsible for this second blast aren’t finished yet. Maarja and Dante are still alive and they won’t rest until that’s no longer the case.
