Opening Chapters Update

OMG you guys! I’m not gonna lie. I’ve been wrestling with these opening chapters far longer than I thought I would. I think the original draft of this chapter was between 12-14k words. I divided this into three chapters to make it easier to edit, and today this scene just tipped over 21k words. And I’m still not quite done. 

This is all one continuous scene, the morning after the end of Bitter Secrets. They’re still in the London penthouse. Those who read the raw draft might remember this opening: 

“Princess?”

She stopped breathing. No, no, no. What the hell was he doing here? She didn’t hear him move, but she felt a whoosh of air on her bare back a second before his hand slid across her waist, making her bite the pillow to stop her involuntary shiver. It took extreme discipline to keep her body loose when every nerve-ending she had was screeching in alarm.  

He buried his face in her tangled hair. “I know you’re awake.”

Her heart tripped as she continued to play dead. She didn’t want to talk to him, and she shouldn’t have to. The least he could do was give her time to recover before he launched another attack. She had no advantages—no warning that the enemy was close and no armor either. What happened to her damn robe? She focused on that insignificant detail instead of the coarse fingers trailing up her spine, causing her skin to prickle. When they slid back down, her hands twisted in the sheets under the pillow. She just managed to stop herself from cursing when he gripped her butt. 

“Still playing possum?”  

She stayed perfectly still and willed him to leave her be, but he wasn’t through toying with her. The firm grip on her ass loosened, and his fingers began to curve downward. Before he could penetrate, she gave up the act and rolled, dislodging his hand. She glared at him as he loomed over her. She felt like shit. Her body was aching, her eyes were nearly swollen shut, and she had to face this devil before she had time to feel human again. It wasn’t fucking fair. He looked as if he had been up for hours. He wore a fresh white dress shirt open at the throat, slacks, but no tie or jacket. 

“What are you doing here?” she growled.

This early draft was written in 2021, before Bitter Secrets was finalized, so a lot of the topics they’re discussing are moot and need to be heavily rewritten or nixed altogether. That wouldn’t be too difficult, but… as I’ve shown in previous snippets, Roth’s been, uh, a little tense. In the original draft, he was pretty gentle and conciliatory the morning after. In this version, he isn’t. He’s actually way more volatile than he was at the end of Bitter Secrets, and it threw me the F off because it’s changing absolutely everything—the topic of conversations, their actions toward one another… Just, everything. 

Roth is bringing up stuff I didn’t think we were going to discuss until the next book. He’s spilling the beans, wanting to clear the air, and it’s left me scrambling to figure out a way forward because he’s pushing so bloody hard. He wasn’t supposed to do this at this point, but he is, which has left Jasmine and I kind of “deer in the headlights” stunned. But, thank God, I had a breakthrough today and found a promising path that will lead me out of this minefield. Gah, it’s been so painful tiptoeing through these explosive discussions. But it makes the resolution at the end of this rewarding, so… Deep breath. 

“I’m sorry, princess.” 

The ache in his raspy, uneven tone undid her. Her body went limp as she surrendered a second before she burst into tears. All morning, she had been trying her best to keep her shit together, but she was so fucking done. She thought last night’s battle was bad, but today’s casualties were worse. Last night, they took refuge in their bodies, in their chemistry, as they had so many times before. Today, they didn’t take the easy out. The reality of their situation was so dire, so fucked up that she couldn’t see a way forward. She had been right to run from him, to run from her father. If only she had stayed away from both of them, she wouldn’t be paying the price for their ruthless games.  

Roth sank with her to the ground, crouching over her as she knelt, crying her fucking heart out. He tucked his face against hers and murmured incoherently as he rocked her, comforting her through the devastation he’d caused. 

These opening chapters have been so heavy and draining, but necessary considering everything that happened in the first two books. I think Roth has the right of it—to get this all out of the way from the get go, so we can move forward freely for the rest of the book. I’m a little freaked that I spent so much time on just a portion of the story, but the opening sets the stage for everything that comes after, so I didn’t want to just whizz through it. I’m hoping once I get past the opening chapters, it’ll be much easier. 

Ahhh! This book already feels so different from the first two. Because we’re in the back half of the series, I (and the characters) can cut loose. Roth feels so different—in a good way. I know I’m not supposed to say this, but I suspect that this will be my favorite book out of the series. It’s the turning point book. I feel like I’m trying to get a massive Titanic-sized ship to pivot, and it’s taking everything I have to accomplish that, since the characters want to do their own thing. 

But, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m almost out of here. Hooray! I go through all the emotions with them so I’ve been pretty exhausted. I kind of want to let loose and jump into the future and do a crazy sex scene or something.🤔 Maybe that will give me the juice I need to wrap up these opening chapters.