Cover

Dedication

For Josh

Prologue

She sprinted through the darkened street, glancing over her shoulder every other step – little more than an instinctive reaction as she could see next to nothing in the blackness behind her. At first she’d been screaming, but now she couldn’t find her voice. She was too out of breath, and together with the stabbing in her throat from having already bellowed with such force, she was rendered mute.

Her bare feet felt wet and slippery on the cold stone underfoot. Was it moisture on the ground, or was her delicate skin rubbed clean off and bleeding from constant pounding on the rough surface? It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t stop running. She couldn’t.

A fearful shiver ran through her. Not because of the cold but because of the ominous thoughts – memories of what she’d already been through – that were still crashing through her mind. The cool dank space that she could see so little of because of the bright light always blinding her. The binds around her wrists and ankles, locking her in place and giving her no chance to protect or defend her vulnerable body. The cruel words of her captor, the gruesome end planned for her.

She stumbled as those horrors swept through her in a sudden onslaught.

And she was damn sure he was there behind her now. She couldn’t let him get her. She couldn’t go back to that place. She had to get away.

She didn’t spot the uneven paving slab. Her big toe cracked into the edge of it, the jolt to her momentum sending her wobbling. Before she knew it her legs had gone from underneath her. Her face was speeding towards solid ground. She managed to reach out her hand in time, saving her head from a horrific smash. Her wrist buckled under the weight of her body. She rolled, the back of her head smacked into the pavement and the shock of pain ran right through her.

There was no time to recover.

She hauled herself back to her feet, head throbbing, disorientated. She grimaced as she felt the wet patch at the back of her head. Blood? She had no idea he was there until he clattered into her from behind and sent her crashing forwards to the ground again. His weight pressed down on her, knocked the wind from her lungs and sent her brain into a heightened panic – if that was even possible. She struggled to free herself but managed only to wriggle onto her back.

‘Going somewhere?’ he snarled, the white of his gritted teeth just about visible in the thin moonlight. How she longed for that bright light now so that she remained blinded to his features.