Behind Closed Doors releases August 27, 2026 · Preorder now
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Cover reveal and preorder is live

Classified — Confidential

Six years of research went into this book before I wrote a single scene, and most of it happened by accident. I kept ending up in conversations with women who had climbed exactly the kind of ladder Erika climbs in Behind Closed Doors, and they all told me some version of the same thing: nobody warns you what actually happens once you get to the top floor.

Today I get to share the cover, and open preorders for the book that came out of those conversations.

What the cover is hiding

The skyline on the front is watercolor, not illustration, painted specifically for this book by an artist who has never read a page of it. I wanted the city to feel like a character rather than a backdrop, something that watches everything and says nothing. Much like the word hiding behind Corporate Success and Seduction on the cover, if you have visited the site before now, you already know it does not give up easily.

Six years. Many different workplaces. And one shocking corporate secret they never taught her in business school. From the back cover

Behind Closed Doors releases August 27, 2026, and is now available to preorder on Kindle. It is Book One in The Corner Office, a series that follows a different office, a different city, and a different secret with every volume, though the people who keep showing up tend to know each other rather better than they let on.

What happens next

Preorder bonuses, the first look at Book Two, and a short deleted scene are all coming to the reader list before release day. If you are not signed up yet, the form is at the bottom of this page and takes about ten seconds.

Thank you for being here this early. It means more than the acknowledgements page will ever be able to say.

Written by

J. Layne

J. Layne is a pen name. The author behind it writes contemporary romance set where ambition and desire collide, in boardrooms, on business trips, and everywhere the polished corporate surface cracks.

News
Release update
July 9, 2026

Behind Closed Doors is now available for preorder

Kindle preorder is officially open, with a release date of August 27.

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