Spotlight: Losing Cadence & Finding Sophie by Laura Lovett
/
When Cadence Weaverly graduates from high school, she thinks it’s for the best that she and her boyfriend, Richard White, take separate paths: she to Julliard and he back to Harvard. Ten years later, she has an ideal job and a wonderful fiancé, Christian. She is building the life of her dreams—until the day Richard resurfaces out of the blue, abducts her from her San Francisco apartment, and returns her to his mansion where he holds her captive.
Cadence can hardly believe her ears when Richard professes his undying love and reveals his plans to build a life together. Terrified to fight back for fear he will have Christian murdered, Cadence must determine how to reason with a mentally unstable man who is obsessed with making her his forever. But even if she manages to escape, will she ever really be free of the man who hunts her heart?
In this psychological thriller, a young woman must rely on perseverance, courage, and inner strength to survive after she is kidnapped by her deranged ex-boyfriend.
Excerpt
Chapter One
“W’e're home my love.”The husky voice seemed distant, yet vaguely familiar. I heard only faint sounds amidst the dark fog that swirled around in my mind. I didn’t know where I was, as my eyes remained clamped shut. My body felt limp and desperately weak. I tried to pull my heavy eyelids apart, but to no avail. I willed my mouth to
open, to utter a sound. Nothing. My tongue was heavy in my mouth. Everything was black. I’m going to be sick, I thought.
“My love, the love of my life, my Cadence,” uttered a deep male voice in my ear. “I’m going to carry you, my love.” I felt warm arms around me, lifting me out into the rain. I shivered fiercely from the bitter cold. Was it night? There was no light through my closed eyelids. I tried again to open my mouth, to ask where I was, but the words would not form. Who was he?
My nausea materialized into violent vomiting. I could feel the man’s strong arms holding me up, bracing me. My body heaved and convulsed, and I felt as though I was breaking into pieces. “It’s okay, darling, you’ll feel better soon,” said the deep voice over and over as I heaved for what felt like an eternity. en everything went black again.
*****
I woke up slowly, sensing that I was tucked into a soft bed. This time my eyes were able to open a fraction. Shapes swam before my eyes, the images vague and blurry. I could see white all around me: white bed, white walls, white door. I tried to move, but my body refused to cooperate. I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I was heavily drugged.
The white around me gave the sensation of being outside in a snow storm. A memory flashed back to me from childhood, of making snow angels in the deep, pillowy layers of freshly fallen snow. My eyes slowly scanned the blurry room and narrowed in on something that was not white, it was black. A camera mounted in the corner of the room, high up near the ceiling, its lens focusing down on me, on my every movement. A watchful eye staring into a room of white, focusing on a drugged woman who couldn’t move. Where on earth was I? Then the door slowly opened.
“Hello, Miss Weaverly,” whispered a woman’s voice with a slight accent that sounded Spanish. “Welcome home. I saw that you were waking up, so I came to check on you. How are you feeling?” I couldn’t make out her features, but could see that she was wearing white and her hair was dark.
“H…h…he…” I tried to make out a word, hello or help, which turned out to be of little consequence as I couldn’t speak.
“Don’t try to speak. Just get some sleep and you’ll feel much better tomorrow.” She came beside my bed and I felt a glass touch my lips. The stream of smooth, cool water cascaded down my parched throat. The mere act of drinking water exhausted me, so I fell back asleep. I dreamed about playing my flute on a hilltop and standing on the deck of my childhood home, making beautiful songs through my instrument as the birds sang along with me.
Th e next dream that floated into my mind was about my family. I dreamed about my mom, dad, sister and brother, all around the dinner table. Outside it was snowing heavily, a blizzard of white. I ran out onto the deck and looked up into the white abyss of the sky. I felt the snow falling on my face, caressing me gently with thick flakes of cool white cotton. This dream continued until I crossed the border between sleep and wakefulness, and opened my eyes to see two green ones staring back at me intensely. My body began to shake with fear.
“Cadence, my love, we’re finally together. This is the happiest day of my life,” he said quietly, only inches away from my ear. He was so close that I could smell the warm scent of mint on his breath. “You look so beautiful, Cadence, so peaceful, and now you’re finally home.”
The recognition came slowly, but once it fully hit, I froze in terror. This must be a dream. I opened my mouth to scream, but only a fearful whisper came out. “R…R…Rich…ard?”
“Yes, my love?”
“Wh…Wh…Why?” I tried to ask my question. Why on earth was I here? Was this a dream? This couldn’t be real. I had dated Richard in high school for a few months. is didn’t make any sense. It had been ten years since I had seen or heard of him!
“Shhh, my love, we’ll have plenty of time to talk later. I want you to get some more rest now. You had a long night and were very ill. I’m just going to sit here and watch over you while you sleep. Oh, how I love you, more than anything in the world. I’ve waited so long for this moment!” He heaved a long, fulfilled sigh as his large, warm hand stroked my hair, my face. He traced the line of my lips. I wanted to bite, to scream, but my body fell back into t the comfort of sleep, dreams and denial.
Buy on Amazon
Finding Sophie: Sequel to Losing Cadence
Finding Sophie is the highly anticipated sequel to Laura Lovett's debut psychological thriller, Losing Cadence.
For twelve years, Cadence Davidson has dreaded her daughter's twelfth birthday, for that is the day she will tell Sophie who her true father really is.
Sophie's world is turned upside down when she learns that her biological father is really Richard White, the man who abducted her mother twelve years earlier.She wonders if she will ever meet the elusive billionaire, only to find herself suddenly abducted into the life that he has carefully crafted for her and her mother.
Despite his carefully orchestrated plan, Richard White is faced with unexpected events that threaten to tear his newfound family apart. Will Richard be able to find peace and hold on to the family he has fought for a lifetime to bring together?
In this psychological thriller, an obsession that spans decades comes to it's ultimate test. Love, loss and courage coalesce as Richard faces his demons and makes the final choice to find peace and love.
Excerpt
Chapter One
Richard sat in his villa in the Bahamas, the warm ocean breeze and sounds of the lapping waves coming through the large, open doors of the massive deck. He was fixated not on the magnificent view, but on his computer screen that was livestreaming his daughter’s twelfth birthday party. He felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he knew his time was drawing near. He saw her beautiful smile, her sweet face.
“Happy birthday, dear Sophie. Happy birthday to you!” played through the speaker. Sophie took a deep breath, focusing intently on the twelve candles on what appeared to be a yellow cake decorated with pink flowers. She blew with great effort, ten of the twelve candles smoking in defeat, as her friends
joked about the two she’d missed. He ached to be there with his family, in Christian’s place, where he belonged.
The cameras were his companions; they helped him be part of Sophie’s life. He was there for all major events through that small eye nestled so inconspicuously that most top agents wouldn’t be able to uncover it. Leo, the ex-CIA agent who helped him in the dark days after Cadence left him to die in the
fire, was a genius at this gig. The hideous scars from the third degree burns on his face and body were a constant reminder of that day; for years, he had wished it had been his last. But in Richard’s world there was always a plan, then another, and another one after that. Richard had backup upon backup,
which saved his life when a guard who was stationed nearby arrived just in time to save Richard from being burned alive or bleeding out from the deep stab wound in his chest. That knife had only been an inch from puncturing his pulmonary artery. The heat of the fire felt as though it was tearing apart his soul, or what was left of it. The thick, dark smoke engulfed his body, and he felt the sharp, throbbing pain of the wound in his chest as he tried to breathe.
He recalled those final moments on that burning deck. “Let me die,” Richard whispered.
“Not a chance,” Leo responded, dragging Richard’s body away from the burning log home, then wrapping his chest in what felt like a tight bandage. He didn’t remember anything after that as he passed out from the pain before being driven quickly away in an ATV through the dense Oregon forest.
He was brought back from those dark memories by the live video of his Cadence putting her arm around Sophie. Sophie smiled, her expression reminding him so much of his own, her eyes and hair giving away the secret of who her real father was. Yet she had her mother’s beautifully shaped lips and nose, set perfectly on her porcelain skin. How he longed to put his arms around them both. Yearned for the warmth of their arms around him. Ached every day and every night for their love.
Just then Christian came between them and Richard turned away from the video, his hands making tight fists and his breath quickening. He couldn’t bear to watch anymore, and stormed out of the room as the recording continued. He would watch more of his wife and daughter later, as was his daily ritual.
As he walked outside the villa and onto the soft, white sandy private beach, he breathed deeply to calm the rage that seeing Christian always caused. Soon, he promised himself. Soon this torture would come to an end and he could have what belonged to him.
Buy on Amazon
About the Author
Laura (Hambley) Lovett was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, and received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Calgary in 2006. Her love of writing began at an early age when she would create and draw characters, telling stories to herself as she drew.
An accomplished author in the academic and business world, Laura pursued her love of creative writing to pen her first novel, Losing Cadence, a psychological thriller. Losing Cadence was written over many years as Laura juggled school, work and family, but she made time to pursue her passion for writing.
Laura is a psychologist and entrepreneur, currently running practices in the areas of career and leadership development and distributed workplaces. She was nominated and selected as a Distinctive Woman in Canada in 2013. Laura also enjoys teaching at the University of Calgary and has been an Adjunct Professor of Psychology since 2010.
Laura lives in Calgary with her husband and three children. She loves playing squash, travelling, spending time at the family cabin in Montana, as well as her view of the Rocky Mountains as the snow is falling on her hot tub.
