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
