I grab the door latch, forcing myself to wait, wait until I’ve gathered enough breaths. The vehicle slows, and I take that opportunity to open the SUVs rear door.
Paltry light greets me as I tuck and roll out of the SUV. As I do, my dress catches on the SUV, but I’m not worried about that. I shred the pale pink tulle, my heart threatening to explode from my chest.
Ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump.
The sun has set, and I’m bathed in the resulting light, the street lights just coming on here and there. I’m in the Lower Ninth Ward somewhere, on a desolate-looking street that houses some old warehouses.
I hear the vehicle slam on its brakes. I spring up, immediately running off the road since they’re probably going to follow me. The yard in front of me is fenced, so I veer right, running into an open gate of what looks like some abandoned power station or something.
“Hey! Stop! Man, what the fuck!!” I hear one of the cops yell behind me.
I don’t look back, though. I just start sprinting as hard and as fast as I can, looking at a spot in the power station’s yard that narrows, two buildings forming a funnel of sorts.
As I race towards the funnel, my heart pounding, my lungs already burning in my chest, I see that both of the buildings are abandoned-looking warehouses.
“Stop! Girl! I’ll shoot!” a cop says, somewhere behind me.
Like hell, I’ll stop. Not now, not ever.
Seeing as I can’t run forever, that doesn’t seem like too bad an idea. Stop and hide—
A gunshot cracks across the dusky sky, going quite wide of me.
Fuck! I almost look back, trying to surmise how far the cops are behind me, and how serious they are about shooting me.
But I steel myself, instead focusing on the fact that I’m closing in on the two warehouses. As I come upon the rusty gray buildings, seeming to peer down at me like two giants, I realize they are identical.
I just have to pick one. Left, or right?
Another gunshot cracks through the air, this one hitting the warehouse to the left. It’s much closer this time.
“Fucking get her, Hunt!” I hear one of the cops behind me say.
As I reach the bottleneck, I know I have to decide. My lungs are screaming with pain, my legs are cramping, everything is throbbing. I’m soaked through with sweat, my eyes feel like they’re going to burst from my skull.
So, I just have to make a choice. Left, or right?
It’s a sudden death sort of moment, the choosing. An animal instinct and I’m completely blind to the outcome. At the mercy of some strange god, who is looking down and laughing like a jackal.
I run through the narrow gap between the warehouses, and sprint to the right.
The Next Book Is Called Control
Want to know what happens to Katherine next? Her story continues in Control, the next book in the Cherish series.
Here is a glimpse of Control, which will come out September 21st!
An excerpt from Control
When I wake again, he is sitting right beside me, his grey eyes piercing me. He looks down on me as if I were a spoiled lover, and he the older beau that liked to indulge me.
I sit up, recoiling from him. As I stare at him distrustfully, his lips curve upward in the hint of a smile.
His expression doesn’t reach the cool grey of his eyes though, and that fact gives me chills. He’s younger than I thought, probably in his mid thirties. And his body is well-muscled, honed. By what, I don’t know.
Yet another mystery surrounding him.
“You’re awake,” he says, as simply as though I was a girlfriend and not a frigging slave.
I can feel his eyes on me, all over my skin. I try to breathe normally, but my heart is racing a million miles an hour. He looks thoughtful.
“You’re prettier than I expected you to be.” He leans closer, and I cringe. He places his hand on my bare thigh, and chuckles at my scramble to get away.
He just grabs the chain that’s connected to my wrist and loops it around his hand in a smooth motion. He gives it a yank, and I am pulled off balance. I tumble back on the bed.
“That’s enough of that,” he says mildly. He cocks his head. “I need a new name for you. Katherine Carolla is dead, so I need something feminine and… something small, like you.”
“I’m not dead,” I say, my voice shaking. I tug at the chain, but he doesn’t even flinch.
“You aren’t, no. But neither are you Katherine. I killed her when I bought her at the slave auction. Or didn’t you notice?”
I make a face at the words slave auction. “So you admit that you’re the kind of man who hangs out at slave auctions, then?”
My words come out saltier than I meant them to, but he doesn’t seem to take offense. He doesn’t seem to hear me at all. He narrows his gaze on my face.
“Fiore,” he says. “It means flower in Italian. I think that will be your new name, girl.”
“My name is Katherine,” I say, defiant.
“You will soon learn how very wrong you are. You will soon learn a lot.”
His grey gaze is heavy on my face, my breasts, the juncture of my thighs. It makes my skin crawl.
He’s crazy, that much is evident. I need to get as much information from him as is possible, and then I can mull it over when I’m alone again.
“Where are we?” I say, switching topics.
He arches a brow. “Columbia. We are on my compound, alone except for the staff to keep things running smoothly. No one will help you.” He pauses for a moment. “No one will come for you. You know that, right?”
I left my chin, tears pricking my eyes. “You don’t know that.”
He pulls on the chain, bringing my closer. “But I do, Fiore. I do know that. Your father sold you down the river, your brothers too. There is no one else, is there?”
I clamp down on my emotions, though I can’t stop the tears from leaking down my cheeks.
“You’re a monster,” I tell him, tasting those same tears on my lips. “You don’t know the first thing about me.”
“No?” he says, something glinting in those deadly grey eyes.
He stands up, using the chain to force me over to the edge of the bed, kneeling. I can see the chain is cutting into his hand, but he seems unconcerned. He stands between my knees, holding the chain up high so that I can’t sit on my heels.
He skims with hand up my inner thigh, which makes me jump. His hand goes up, up… until he finds the nestle of curls just at the juncture of my thighs. His fingers probe my lower lips.
“No!” I say. When he slips a finger casually inside me, not the least bit concerned with how I feel, I scream in his face. “No! I said no! Stop!”
His finger inside my body is an absolute, unquestionable violation. I try to move, to close my knees against him, but he just lifts my handcuff painfully high.
The invasion of his rough touch is everything I have spent my entire life being told I should fear. So I do fear it.
I fear him.
He leans in close, almost touching his face to mine. “You belong to me now, Fiore. I own you. I can do whatever I want to you, whenever I want it. And you’ll do what I say, or I will kill you. It’s as simple as that.”
“Monster,” I whisper, closing my eyes. As if that could shut him out. “What do you even want from me?”
He withdraws his finger from me and leans down until he’s right next to my ear.
“Everything.”
Click here to get Control as soon as it hits Kindle!
About the Author
Olivia Ryann is the dark romance pen name of Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon Top 20 Bestseller Vivian Wood. She loves poetic phrases and bits of melodic memories. She adores dominant, hard men and soft, fragile women with backbones made of steel. She wants to put them together as often as possible, in unconventional ways.
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If you haven’t ever read any of Vivian’s work, we suggest beginning with Addiction and Obsession.
Cheers!
Olivia’s Works
Capture
Control
Covet
Cherish
Vivian likes to write about troubled, deeply flawed alpha males and the fiery, kick-ass women who bring them to their knees.
Vivian's lasting motto in romance is a quote from a favorite song: "Soulmates never die."
Be sure to follow Vivian through her Vivian's Vixens mailing list (http://eepurl.com/buorZn) or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/VivianKWood/) to keep up with all the awesome giveaways, author videos, ARC opportunities, and more!
Vivian’s Works
Bad Beginnings
Bad Behavior
Bad Reputation
Dr. Hottie
Smolder
Hot As Hell
Wild Hearts
Addiction
Obsession
His Virgin
His Best Friend’s Little Sister
Claiming Her Innocence
His To Keep
Promise Me
Knocking Boots
SEAL’s Bride
SEAL’s Kiss
SEAL’s Touch
For more information….
vivian-wood.com
[email protected]
Capture: Cherish Series Book One Page 3