Five Smooth Stones — Maxine Thompson

After freeing her gang-banging brother Mayhem from a hostage situation in Brazil, Zipporah "Z" Saldano returns home with her world turned totally upside down. Romero, the love of her life, was murdered in the shootout that finally freed Mayhem from his kidnappers and two weeks after his funeral, Z discovers she's pregnant.

She would love to have something left of Romero to hold on to the memory of their love, but she's not sure if she's carrying his child. During the rescue attempt in Rio, she was tied up, drugged, and possibly raped, so she has no way of knowing if the child might be her attacker's. Z is contemplating abortion, until a medical emergency makers her realize she wants her child.

Z settles into the idea of carrying this baby to full term, and life goes back to some semblance of normal. Z's reality show, Women in Business, takes off, which helps Z with the mourning process. She also manages to track down her long lost younger siblings, and then she is reunited with her mother, Venita. For a while, Z feels whole. She's beginning to look forward to motherhood.

But just when Z enters the last trimester of her pregnancy, the Brazilian cartel locates her. She learns they have sent an assassin, The Executioner, to kill her, so she goes into hiding in a cabin in the mountains. When the Execution discovers her hiding place, Z will have to match wits with this professional hit man. Will Z and her child survive?