Venture will do anything for Jade, anything to prove them wrong. And the powers that rule their world will stop at nothing to keep him from winning the title that could change his life and the world as he knows it, forever. That title is nothing less than Champion of All Richland.
Venture must leave behind everything he knows and become what everyone tells him he can never be—a champion prize fighter. Little does Venture know, his quest will put those he loves most in terrible jeopardy and rip the powerful nation of Richland apart.
Readers call VENTURE “gritty without being dirty, smutty, or gory.” Some say VENTURE “reminds me of The Princess Bride, but more serious—and with prize fighters!” Set in an alternate world, VENTURE is filled with colorful characters who will capture your heart, packed with action, and complete with twists you’ll never see coming.
*The VENTURE series was previously published in a different form. It has been reworked, recut, and reordered.*
*****Excerpt*****
“Rose Fieldstone caught Jade sneaking back into the house yesterday about an hour before sunrise. Apparently she’d been out all night.” Justice’s smirk turned into a malicious grimace.
“Really?” Vent kept his voice even, though his heart was racing. How could she have gotten caught? How could this be happening?
“That’s about the time you got in, isn’t it, Vent?”
Venture stood up, turned his back on his brother, lifted the curtain, and walked out of the alcove, to the front window, stalling for time.
Justice followed him, grabbed his shoulders, and wheeled him around. “Isn’t it?”
Venture took a deep breath and looked straight into Justice’s raging gray eyes. “Yeah, it is.”
Justice’s face rumpled in surges of anger and uncertainty. Clearly he hadn’t expected such a confession. Venture remembered his promise to Jade, to tell Justice everything. This wasn’t going to be easy. But a promise was a promise, and what had actually taken place between them couldn’t be worse than what Justice would imagine if he denied it all.
“I took Jade out at midnight. We went for a walk. We talked. Then I kissed her, Justice.”
Venture saw the fury rise up through Justice’s chest. He watched his muscular arm pulling back and found himself shocked at what Justice was about to do, but strangely unwilling to prevent it. Justice’s weighty palm smacked Venture’s face so hard that, had he been less sturdy and less accustomed to absorbing blows, he would’ve gone flying into the mud-plaster wall and fallen to the floor. Instead, Venture stumbled back a step. Everything went pitch black for a fragment of a moment. Then he regained his balance and raised his stinging, throbbing head. He wiped at the trickle of blood under his lip.
“I’m not a little girl!” Venture said. “Dad taught you how to throw a good, solid punch. Is this how you respect his memory?”
Though Justice had never struck him before, he’d half expected a violent reaction to his brazenness. But the severity of the blow did little to take away from the insult of the fact that it was a slap. A slap in the face—the common reprimand for a little girl.
“Don’t you dare bring our father into this! He’s not here! He’s not here for me, and he’s not here to deal with you! That’s what fists do! And you want to make your living with them, build your life on other men’s blood?”
Venture shoved Justice hard in the chest, then pulled his fist back. . .
