A First Look at Relentless Pursuit: The Scene That Changes Everything

As we get closer to the release of Relentless Pursuit on December 29, 2025, I’m excited

to finally share one of my favorite things about launch season—a deeper teaser from the book.

This is the fifth book in my Price Security series, and it might be the most emotionally intense opening I’ve written for the series so far. I channeled all of that rage and anger I feel about the way women are treated in society into this story.  Jena Maxwell begins this story determined, angry, and ready to face the man she believes is responsible for destroying a life she cared about. That decision — that moment — puts everything else in motion.

I think it’s easy to feel trapped by all that we can’t do when faced with stakes that are high. For Jena I just really poured everything into her determination to get justice for her best-friend. She’s not a femme fatale. She knows her skill set is lacking but staying home isn’t an option.

Before we dive into the teaser, here’s a quick reminder of the stakes:

She wants justice and revenge.He needs to protect her for his redemption.

When Jena tries to expose a dangerous drug dealer, she ends up with a price on her head. With nowhere else to turn, she seeks help from Rick Stone—a former DEA agent who recognizes her danger all too well. Protecting Jena becomes more than just a job…it becomes personal.

Today’s blog features the opening scene, where Jena confronts Vex and shows exactly why she won’t stop until she brings him down. It’s tense, raw, and sets the emotional tone for the entire book.

Extended Teaser: Opening Scene of Relentless Pursuit

Jena Maxwell took a deep breath and forced herself out of her car.  She didn’t have any family—well, none that she counted on—but she had Brianne. Her best friend and partner in crime. They loved drinking margaritas on Friday night, binging the latest costume drama from the Regency period and dreaming that men in real life could be as handsome, loving and nice as the men on TV.

Reality was a bit different for the two women who’d met as runaways when they were sixteen. They’d both done things they wished they hadn’t to make money, but at twenty-four it felt, at least to Jena, that she was finally figuring things out. When Brianne started dating a flashy player named Vex, Jena hadn’t been thrilled. But he’d spoiled Brianne with clothes, jewels and trips to Los Angles and New York City.

Jena knew it was too good to be true, and soon Brianne was at her door bruised and bloodied. She’d promised Jena she wasn’t going to go back to Vex. The next time Jena saw her friend was in the morgue when she’d been called in to identify the a woman found on the side of a road just outside Houston who listed her as next of kin.

The cops had found that the knife used to slit her throat had been tossed into a ditch with the body. There was no DNA on the knife or on Brianne’s body. A dead end. But Jena knew who had killed her friend. She’d given the cops the name Vex, and they’d pretty much shut down.

Even if she could connect the nickname Vex to Tomas Vectra, the suspected leader of the Malus syndicate criminal gang, no one wanted to mess with the all-around bad dude.

They told her if she found hard evidence, and not just her hearsay information that her friend had been dating Vex, they’d investigate. But since Jena had never met Vex and had never actually seen Brianne with him, there was no physical evidence tying him to Brianne for now, and so they wouldn’t be talking to him.

Frustrated, Jena had tried in vain to find something linking her friend with Vex, but he hadn’t left any clues behind, and neither had Brianne. Even the jewelry and clothes that Brianne had said he’d given her appeared to have been purchased by herself. A few of the retailers seemed to remember a man with her, but other than tall, dark hair and tanned, they hadn’t been able to give a description of Vex.

Left with no other options, Jena had resorted to desperate measures. The cops had said Vex was a drug kingpin, and from Brianne’s trips (also all solo, according to the official paper trails) to Los Angeles and Manhattan, Jena suspected Texas wasn’t his home base. She got in touch with her brother. They weren’t close… Both had left their shitty-home sitch when they were teens, and other than getting in touch on Christmas—Joey loved the holiday—they never spoke. But he had connections in the drug world.

She’d asked for his help, and he flat-out warned her not to get involved, but it was too late to change her mind. No one cared about Brianne’s death other than her. She’d overheard a deputy saying that Brianne had gotten what she deserved, which had pissed Jena off, and she’d confronted him.

What person deserves to be raped and murdered, with their body dumped on the side of the road?

No matter what she wore or how she acted, Brianne hadn’t deserved that. Plus, the thought of Vex getting away with her murder…made Jena want to take matters into her own hands.

The deputy had walked away singed, but no more willing to do any real investigating than he had been before, and Jena knew that everything depended on her. Joey knew a guy on the West Coast who was a former DEA agent. He’d also used his contacts to tell her that Vex was in Los Angeles. There’d been some big arrests out there that had left a power vacuum. According to Joey, a bunch of mid-level crime bosses were out there trying to take it over.

She knew the odds were stacked against her, but she had a few cards up her sleeve. One was her brother’s contact’s name—Rick Stone. Another was the name of the club Vex was operating out of—Mistral’s. She also had some over-the-counter recording equipment. Armed with all that, she’d taken her two weeks’ vacation from the Green Valley Bank, bought the cheapest ticket she could find and headed to Los Angeles bent on getting the evidence she needed to bring Tomas Vectra to justice.

She had an idea of the type of woman Vex liked based on the clothes she’d seen Brianne wearing, and Jena still had her best friend’s ankle bracelet, which Vex had given her. She put that on with the shortest skirt she could find, a pair of lethal stilettos and a top that showed off her bosom.

She’d made it as far as the door of Mistral’s when she got a good look at Tomas Vectra. He was bigger than she’d expected—at least six two and really muscly. He had a thin mustache and thick eyebrows over dark brown—almost black— eyes. His jaw was hard, and there was a scar on one cheek that made him look even more sinister.

But it was the bevy of women and large guards around him that made her take a step back. Approaching him would be harder than she’d thought. And even if she could get close, it definitely seemed unsafe to question someone that big and dangerous looking. She needed a better plan. She needed…maybe a date rape drug so she could get him a little drugged out before she tried to pump him for information. It might make him talk more freely—and if he did get upset or suspicious about her questions, she’d have an easier time getting away from him if he wasn’t at his sharpest.

It took her a few days to find a seller—probably because she kept calling it “date rape drug,” and most sellers thought she was a narc. But she’d done her research, realizing that the name of the drug was Rohypnol and that its “on brand” use was to aid those suffering with insomnia. She hit up a local college campus and was finally able to purchase Rohypnol after saying she had trouble sleeping and couldn’t afford to go to a doctor.

So here she was again.  Back at Mistral’s, dressed this time in a sequin slip dress that ended at the tops of her thighs. In her purse, she had her phone turned on to record and the Rohypnol; between her boobs, she’d taped a wireless mic. She had a plan, she had a purpose and she wasn’t leaving the club until she had his confession. No matter that her hands were shaking. Her heart beating so loudly like a drum tattoo following each step she took.

After taking a deep breath, she flirted her way into the club and past the VIP bouncers. Getting to Vex…that was the one thing she wasn’t sure she knew how to do.

But then he noticed her. The long, black hair that hung almost to her ass. The short, tight dress that showed off all her assets. Apparently, he liked what he saw, because he invited her to his table.

Luck favors the brave, she told herself with more confidence than she truly had.

Preorder!

What This Scene Means for the Story

This confrontation is the spark that sends Jena running straight into Rick’s world — and straight into the danger she’s been trying to expose. It reveals her courage, her drive for justice, and the depth of what she’s already lost before page one truly begins.

I hope you enjoy this early look into the book!