Dark Ascent
He’s the only man who can survive the dive, but she’s the only one who knows the truth about why he has to come back alive.
Dr. Camille Laughton has a strict rule: never date divers. They are reckless, transient, and dangerous—everything she keeps away from her four-year-old son, Leo. But when the DSS Leviathan takes on a mysterious replacement diver for a critical Arctic mission, Camille comes face-to-face with the exception to her rule: Jasper 'Zero' Reynolds. He is the man she spent one unforgettable night with years ago, the fallen legend who has no idea he is a father.
Jasper is a ghost, a former Navy diver who finds peace only in the crushing silence of the deep. He doesn't want connections; he wants to clear his debts and disappear. But the moment he sees Camille again, the icy walls around his heart begin to crack. When a cyber-terrorist attack cripples the ship’s systems and threatens the lives of the entire crew, Jasper and Camille are forced into a high-pressure alliance where professional ethics collide with raw, personal desire.
Trapped in the claustrophobic confines of the 'Med-Lock' during a life-or-death surgical procedure, the truth finally surfaces. With a saboteur hunting them from the shadows and an umbilical cable on the verge of snapping, Jasper must choose between his death wish and a reason to live. Camille must decide if she can trust the man who once abandoned her with the truth that will change his world forever: that he has a son waiting for him on the surface.
The Blurb
Dr. Camille Laughton has a strict rule: never date divers. They are reckless, transient, and dangerous—everything she keeps away from her four-year-old son, Leo. But when the DSS Leviathan takes on a mysterious replacement diver for a critical Arctic mission, Camille comes face-to-face with the exception to her rule: Jasper 'Zero' Reynolds. He is the man she spent one unforgettable night with years ago, the fallen legend who has no idea he is a father.
Jasper is a ghost, a former Navy diver who finds peace only in the crushing silence of the deep. He doesn't want connections; he wants to clear his debts and disappear. But the moment he sees Camille again, the icy walls around his heart begin to crack. When a cyber-terrorist attack cripples the ship’s systems and threatens the lives of the entire crew, Jasper and Camille are forced into a high-pressure alliance where professional ethics collide with raw, personal desire.
Trapped in the claustrophobic confines of the 'Med-Lock' during a life-or-death surgical procedure, the truth finally surfaces. With a saboteur hunting them from the shadows and an umbilical cable on the verge of snapping, Jasper must choose between his death wish and a reason to live. Camille must decide if she can trust the man who once abandoned her with the truth that will change his world forever: that he has a son waiting for him on the surface.
"The 'surgical intimacy' scene in this book is absolutely breathtaking! Sterling delivers high-octane industrial action mixed with a gut-wrenching secret baby trope that actually feels earned. Jasper and Camille have chemistry that could boil the North Sea."— S. Richards