Fifty Minutes Away Trilogy · Book 3
The Hanging Queen
Emily pushed too far. Now the hanging queen has nowhere safe left to move.
The Hanging Queen brings the trilogy to its end with Emily exposed, compromised and increasingly at the mercy of the people she was supposed to be hunting. As the question of Kayla’s rescue reaches the highest levels, Emily has to discover whether she can still save the case, her career and herself.
- Book
- 3 of 3
- Format
- Ebook
- Type
- Suspense
Every shortcut has finally caught up with her.
About the book
Emily has spent the trilogy convincing herself that breaking rules was necessary to save Kayla. By now, that explanation is much harder to believe. Her relationship with Shawn has become intensely personal, her secrecy is becoming impossible to maintain, and Victoria and Natalya have enough leverage to make every decision feel like theirs rather than hers.
The Russians no longer need to chase Emily. They can blackmail her, summon her and keep testing how much of herself she is willing to surrender rather than expose what she has done.
Meanwhile, Kayla’s disappearance has escalated beyond the police investigation and into government hands. With extraordinary options finally on the table, the question is no longer simply whether Kayla can be brought home. It is what, exactly, will be coming home with her.
Character, pressure and choice
The tension at the centre
Emily’s greatest problem is no longer solving the case. It is deciding whether she is still capable of choosing anything freely.
She is being blackmailed, used and pulled back towards Victoria and Natalya whenever they decide they want her. She could end things with Shawn, confess what she has done and trust her superiors to deal with the consequences. Instead, she keeps searching for one more way to stay afloat without surrendering the life she has built around her mistakes.
Every encounter with the Russians makes that harder. Emily knows what the handcuffs mean now. She knows what their touch does to her. The question is whether knowing any of that still matters when they call her back.
At the centre
Two women. Two very different kinds of captivity.
Pressure and exposure
Emily
The brilliant blonde detective who normally thrives under pressure can barely breathe beneath the weight of everything she is hiding. Victoria and Natalya seem to have their hands around her throat at every turn, tightening their hold whenever Emily convinces herself she has finally found room to escape.
Rescue and transformation
Kayla
A daring plan may finally bring Kayla home, but rescue is only part of the question. After everything she has endured, nobody knows whether she still wants the life waiting for her, or what version of Kayla will walk down those steps if she returns.
Your next Bret Vautour story
Why read The Hanging Queen?
For the moment Emily finally has to pay for every line she crossed.
The Hanging Queen is the trilogy’s reckoning. Emily has built a secret, increasingly physical relationship with Shawn while leading the investigation into his missing girlfriend, and the excuses she once relied on are beginning to collapse. As Kayla’s rescue becomes a matter of national importance, Victoria and Natalya prepare to enact the plan they have been building for their favourite detective. The final question is not just whether Emily can save Kayla, but what will be left of Emily when the case is over.
The reading sequence
Earlier in the trilogy
Earlier · Book 1 of 3
Fifty Minutes Away
Fifty minutes is enough for Victoria and Natalya to turn Kayla’s glamorous date night into a disappearance.
View BookPrevious · Book 2 of 3
The Special Kiss
Desperate to save Kayla, Emily takes the biggest risk of her career as attraction becomes another weapon in the case.
View Book
Desire. Decision. Consequence.
Kayla escaped those who taught her what those handcuffs meant.
She did not escape the way her body and soul ached for the tight, cold steel.
Fifty Minutes Away Trilogy · Book 3