Jaded

Seven years after his abduction, Michael Wright is finally home.For his parents, psychiatrist Dr. Justin Wright and attorney Mandy Wright, the reunion should be the miracle they prayed for. But the ten-year-old boy they lost is now a seventeen-year-old stranger-withdrawn, emotionally detached, and carrying memories he refuses to share. Even more disturbing, Michael already knows his brother Dylan is dead. The man who told him was Nathan, the murderous identity inside Justin’s former patient, Frank Devlin.From a locked psychiatric ward, Nathan continues to reach into the Wright family’s life. He has poisoned Michael against Kyle, the family friend who has spent seven years blaming himself for the kidnapping. When Kyle visits the hospital hoping to reconnect with Matthew-another of Frank’s identities-he finds Nathan in control and determined to destroy what little hope Kyle has left.As Justin searches for a trauma specialist who can help his son, a new patient enters his office. Jade Walker is successful, beautiful, and deeply troubled. She suffers from depression, violent relationships, and a past shaped by a father’s abuse and a mother who murdered him. Yet the bruises Jade brings into therapy conceal something even darker. Every full moon, she performs a private ritual of punishment for a secret she believes can never be forgiven.Justin is determined to save both Michael and Jade, but each resists him in a different way. Michael protects the truth behind seven years of captivity. Jade reveals only enough to keep Justin searching. And Nathan manipulates everyone from inside the hospital, turning guilt, grief, and love into weapons.As buried crimes surface and emotional pressure pushes fragile minds toward their breaking points, Justin must decide whom to believe before another life is destroyed. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous it becomes-and the final revelation will leave the Wright family facing a threat they never saw coming.Jaded is the second book in the Justin Wright Suspense Series, an emotionally charged psychological thriller about kidnapping, trauma, dissociative identity, guilt, abuse, and the desperate need for forgiveness. Packed with escalating suspense, deeply human characters, and a cliff-hanger ending, it is best read after Altered, Book 1 of the series. 6