Sören by Aly Stiles

People think reading minds is a gift. A gift? Some “gift” when it puts you in prison for trying to save a child’s life. When it’s the reason I’ve been exploited, targeted, and abandoned for as long as I can remember. That “gift” has ruined any chance I have at getting close to another person and scraping together a decent life. No, my best hope is dissolving into a quiet, solitary existence so my “gift” will stop hurting me.
I thought I’d find that at the remote Shannon Estate.
Working as a live-in groundskeeper on a massive private estate should be exactly what I need. Just me and a shovel. Me and a tiny shack that requires almost no human interaction. It’s okay. I’m used to swallowing the ache of loneliness to survive. I became granite long before prison solidified me into permanent human stone.
It was the perfect life for someone like me—until heiress Abby Shannon literally wanders into my path. With her kind eyes and compassionate smile, she’s everything I need but can never have. She also turns my “gift” back into the curse that might destroy me once and for all.

SÖREN is the final dark chapter of the Gifted Trilogy and can be read as a standalone.