The Truth Pact (The Truth About Love Book 1) Read online

  The Truth Pact

  The Truth About Love Duet, Book 1

  C.M. Albert

  FlowerWork Press

  Contents

  Foreword

  Acknowledgments

  The Truth Pact Playlist

  Inspiration

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  The Brighton Effect

  Afterword

  Special Support Message for Readers

  Books by C.M. Albert

  About the Author

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  THE TRUTH PACT

  The Truth About Love Duet | Book One

  Genre: Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction

  Copyright © 2020 by C.M. Albert | FlowerWork Press

  Cover Design: Cover Me Darling, LLC

  Cover Image: Regina Wamba

  Editing: Dot and Dash, LLC

  Proofreading: Denise McGhee

  Paperback Formatting: Alt 19 Creative

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

  Created with Vellum

  Foreword

  The Truth Pact is my first time writing a deeply romantic love story that reads more like women’s fiction than my usual steamy romances. That’s why I call it a contemporary romance/women’s fiction hybrid. I hope you love Olivia and Ryan’s world as much as I do. This book takes place in western New York. Though the exact town is not specifically named on purpose, I modeled a great deal of it loosely after my hometown of Oswego, New York—where sunsets reign supreme off the majestic surface of Lake Ontario. I remember being a little girl, skipping stones across the lake’s surface with my family, throwing seaweed at my brother, and racing to see which one of us would be brave enough to jump first into the frigid water in April, after another freezing cold winter. As a kid, I could never understand why I couldn’t see across the other side to Canada, since it was “just a lake.” Unless you stand on this Great Lake’s shores, you can’t quite grasp how ocean-like it feels.

  New York holds a special place in my heart, as do its people. That said, I specifically chose certain elements of Oswego and the surrounding area to highlight by factual name to honor my heritage, while most of their town I created myself and is entirely fictitious. So, please don’t be upset with the vast liberties I’ve taken with the setting. It was intentionally done from a place of love, while also weaving in fictional elements I needed for my storyline.

  The end result is the same, and I hope you feel it too—a deep love and appreciation for the beautiful, lush, green, historical land I called home for so many years. There is so much to love about New York, and even though I reside in the South now, the Empire State will always hold a huge part of my heart.

  I also want to acknowledge the family and friends I still have “back home,” who give me the best reason to visit every now and again. Especially my oldest and dearest friend, Jen Cooper, whom I’ve loved like a soul sister since we were about five years old. We Joan-Jetted our way through childhood, boy crazy, with belly laughs so hard we’d usually end up crying—or almost peeing our pants. No matter how many miles separate us, the second we’re reunited, we still giggle like the kindergartners we once were. There are some people who ride with you for a lifetime, and “Jenny” is mine.

  So, my awesome readers, no matter where you live in this great country, I hope you can find a little slice of home somewhere in these pages and feel like the extended ohana you are to me. May your best reading days be ahead of you!

  XOXO!

  Love, Colleen

  The Truth Pact is dedicated to my dear friend, Erin, and her beloved baby girl in heaven, Kailey.

  “Even those who never fully bloom still bring beauty into the world.” – Unknown

  Acknowledgments

  There are so many people to thank when it comes to putting a book together. I’d like to give a special shout-out to my longtime editor, Erin Servais, of Dot and Dash, LLC, who has moved from getting her name lopped off over the course of two pages to my numero uno spot—it’s kind of the equivalent of getting a chair named after you!