Eighteen years ago, Christian Laurent disappeared. He walked away from power, violence, and a name that once opened doors—and closed graves. He entered a monastery, became Brother Maurice, and built a life governed by routine, responsibility, and silence. Then his younger brother finds him. Patrick Laurent arrives exhausted, terrified, and with a death sentence hanging over his head. “Christian, I’m finished. I’m dead.” Patrick has spent years doing business with men he knew better than to trust. Now a criminal empire is collapsing, the authorities have their own agenda, millions are at stake, and someone has decided Patrick knows too much to remain alive. He has nowhere left to run. Except to the brother he hasn’t seen in eighteen years. But saving Patrick means Christian must step back into a world he deliberately abandoned—a world that has not forgotten his name. The men who once knew Christian Laurent remember something else about him, too: When he gave his word, he kept it. Now old loyalties are resurfacing. Old enemies are watching. And every choice forces Christian closer to the man he swore he would never become again. Because protecting his brother may require violence. Keeping his word may require breaking the life he built. And some promises cost far more than the people who make them ever expect to pay. A WORD GIVEN is a tense psychological crime thriller about two estranged brothers, loyalty and betrayal, guilt and redemption—and the terrifying difference between leaving your past behind and discovering that your past never left you.
