Chapter 1
Chapter One
Molly Peters
15 months agoThe punch came from behind me. I had no warning. My arms flung out, and I shot across the room and into the wall. My ears rang as someone emptied my pockets.
“Keys. Where are your keys?” he shouted while I lay on my stomach and covered my head, expecting another blow. “Come on! Where are they?” Something hard jabbed my side as he leaned down. “Where?”
“Hook.” I pointed at the wall, careful not to raise my eyes to look at him. My body was paralyzed in shock as my brain screamed in fear.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
Hands all over me, I was poked and prodded, and my purse was torn from under my stomach. I hadn’t even realized I was on top of it. My wedding ring was roughly shimmied off my finger.
They are just things. They can be replaced.
I began to shake, and I could feel sweat run from under my collar. My stomach was in a giant knot, and I felt sick. My heart raced so fast it felt as though it would come right out of my chest.
How did he get in? We had one of the best security systems you could get. A movement caught my attention, and I spotted our little hound Bentley tucked under a chair, whimpering.
Oh, boy, please stay put!
Glass crashed around me, and I tightened my hand on my head. A photo of my daughter tumbled down and landed faceup next to me.
Fear exploded through me as it dawned on me she was due to arrive any moment.
“What’s that noise?” I felt his breath as he whispered inches from my ear.
“It’s…”
“Mom?” My son’s voice found me through my nightmare.
“s**t!” I could hear how startled the intruder was.
Bang echoed through my rib cage and froze my heart.
“No! Please don’t hurt him!” I screamed from the basement of my lungs. Not my baby! I pushed to get up but was kicked in the side of the knee. Pain shot through me as I slammed to the floor again.
“Stay down or I’ll shoot you too!”
Suddenly, a hand came into view, and my daughter’s photo disappeared from the floor. The sound of a camera click caught my ear. His breath found my nose once again, and something tugged at a memory. Something familiar.
Do I know you?
“What the hell—” My husband’s voice boomed as he burst through the door. Something dropped heavily on the floor. I strained to see him, but I couldn’t. “Please take whatever you need,” he cried, and his gasp told me he must have caught sight of our son.
“Don’t!” the intruder warned.
I broke, lost all rational thinking, and did the one thing I knew I shouldn’t. I flipped over and stared the man directly in the face.
Oh, my god!
“Hey,” he said, panicked, and his hand jerked.
Bang!
The last thing I heard as my body drained of life was another bang and my husband’s scream.
