Chapter One
The silence might kill her.
Where was the wail of her baby crying?
When would she feel something other than the smothering of her grief?
Heartbreak. That’s just how it started.
Agony was where she was stuck between the physical and emotional pain writhing inside her.
She could hear the scream lodged in her throat. Feel the emptiness in her belly like a living thing clawing at her.
She couldn’t escape the loss she felt of someone there, then gone, but never here.
The agony crashed over her, then receded into a throbbing ache before it built again as she considered what was gone. What would never be. Hopes and dreams and a life barely lived.
The spark ignited by love and passion snuffed out by twisted desire turned to rage.
He killed my baby!
The words were a scream in her mind. An echo that sounded over and over again with each tear that fell.
She’s gone, and I am empty.
The deep, dark pit of despair held her locked tight against its silent, heartless soul, aching to be free of the pain and resigned to feeling it forever.
Chapter Two
Adam winced at the bright light in his eyes and the pain in his wrists. He tried to lift his arm to see why it hurt and discovered the padded band around his forearm was actually strapped to the bedrail.
What the fuck!
He was restrained to the bed by both arms and ankles. He struggled against his bonds. A sense of déjà vu came over him.
Someone trying to get away fromhim.
Oh shit!
It all came back in a flash of nightmare images. Brooke! His beautiful Brooke.
His heart thrashed in his chest, pounding so hard he could barely catch his breath.
He’d almost had her. She was right there. His for the taking.
I was so close.
She wanted it.
He knew she did.
She’d been waiting for him.
But no. She fought him.
Fury seared through his veins. The cunt! She’d given herself to someone else. He tugged at the restraints again, wanting to flee this place and find her, hunt her down and get his hands on her.
More images flooded his mind. She fought him, trying to push him away. Holding her hands up to ward him off. But he kept attacking.
