{"product_id":"book-1w4q","title":"He Was Twelve:","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHe was twelve. She was smiling. She took the cigarette out of his fingers.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt twenty-nine, \u003cstrong\u003eWilla Hayes\u003c\/strong\u003e is broke, pregnant, and one bad week from the gutter when she takes a live-in housekeeper job at the Vance estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her employer is a wealthy widower with a thirteen-year-old son and a smile she doesn't quite trust. The job is supposed to be temporary. \u003cem\u003eGet the baby. Get on her feet. Get out.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen her employer drives her to a prenatal appointment in February. He doesn't come home.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSix months later, Willa is bleeding out on the bedroom rug of a house that no longer belongs to anyone. The thirteen-year-old walks in and asks if she's hungry. By morning, the two of them - the orphaned heir and the woman who has nothing left to lose - have signed a suicide pact on a torn-out sheet of notebook paper. \u003cstrong\u003eFive years. Then they end it together.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTen years pass.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe grows up beautiful. He grows up dangerous. He grows up unrecognizable.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd the demon she didn't know she was raising is, finally, in love with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e⸻\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA slow-burn, decade-long descent into the kind of love story that should never have been allowed to take root. \u003cem\u003eHe Was Twelve\u003c\/em\u003e is for readers of \u003cstrong\u003ePenelope Douglas\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eH. D. Carlton\u003c\/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong\u003eAna Huang\u003c\/strong\u003e - anyone who has ever wondered what becomes of two suicidal people who keep each other alive by accident.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTropes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Age gap (16 years, woman older) • Decade-long slow burn • Forbidden \/ caretaker-to-lover • Morally gray possessive hero • Obsessive love • Trauma bonding • Suicide pact • Wealthy private equity heir • Bittersweet, ambiguous ending\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContent notes:\u003c\/strong\u003e On-page suicidal ideation and self-harm. Childhood abuse referenced. On-page accidental death. Pregnancy loss. Obsessive, controlling hero behavior. The age-gap relationship is entirely platonic during the hero's minority; the romance only develops after both characters are consenting adults.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"INAudio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":67238503448880,"sku":"BD1w4q","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-1w4q","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}