The Matriach - Jen Talty

The choice to move forward was hers. The danger that followed wasn't.

Catherine Sarich spent years raising four boys on her own and making sure they had the chances she lost when her husband died. Now her sons are grown, building their own families, and Catherine is finally ready to take a step forward-however uneasy it feels. Wesley Maron has been part of her world for nearly a year: steady, capable, impossible to overlook. But he reminds her too much of the man she loved and lost, and that kind of familiarity scares her more than starting over. When her sons keep nudging them together, Catherine does something she never imagined-she signs up for a dating app, hoping that meeting someone new might help her figure out what she's truly ready for. One date is all it takes to realize the online world is messier, darker, and far more complicated than she expected...especially when rejection draws the wrong kind of attention.

Wesley has been giving Catherine space, not distance. He's wanted her from the beginning, but he understands wounds that don't show and hearts that take their time. So when her sons ask him to quietly look into the man she met online, he agrees-and what he finds is concerning enough. But it's the other things that start stacking up: small incidents that feel off, tension that has nothing to do with her date, and a pattern forming in the shadows that Wesley can't ignore. When Catherine's safety is suddenly and unmistakably compromised, Wesley moves without hesitation. He's spent a year holding back and honoring her boundaries. But protecting her? That's not up for debate-and he's done pretending she isn't worth fighting for.