“Cuff him too,” the female voice announces. The ‘him’ she’s referring to must be Frank. Opening my eyes, I’m just in time to see Frank being tugged up and led out of my sight.
I’m jerked up roughly and dragged to my feet before they push me through the kitchen out to the main foyer. “Where are you taking me?” I get pushed again, and this time I stumble over my own feet from the force of the shove. Falling forward, someone behind me grabs hold of the cuffs and tugs me back into an upright position, causing a sharp pain to sear through my wrists. “Where am I going?” I yell and get no response.
This is my opportunity to leave Jude and go back home. The opportunity I’ve been searching for.
“In the van,” a man says from behind me. I turn to look at him, but he’s unfamiliar to me. As I approach the black van, with heavily tinted windows, I try to look around and take note of everything going on.
The guy helps me in the van and the moment he touches me, I try and get into his vision, but I’m not getting anything. I twist behind me to look at where he’s holding me and notice his bare skin on mine.
I’m not getting a vision, though. Why can’t I see anything?
Is it the stress, the worry over what’s happening?
As I get pushed onto a bench seat, I think back to all my visions. The first one I had when I was in the hospital came to me while I was under extreme duress. I had no idea what was happening to me, but they continued to come. I was stressing out and thought I was losing my mind. But they still kept coming.
But since I’m learning more about it, all my visions have come to me while I’ve been calm, and in control of myself. The more in control I am, the clearer the vision, and the more detail I can get.
“Lean forward,” the guy who pushed me into the van says.
Calming my heart rate, I try to still my mind. To clear it of the panic and stress, I focus on numbing myself so I can get into a vision.
The guy touches my hands again, and I’m ripped into a vision, but I’m there for only a second before I’m kicked out. Come on, Lexi, calm down. Closing my eyes, I take several deep breaths. I need to see what’s happening, and who these people are. I feel his hands fumbling around mine, and hear the door slide shut of the van. The motion of the van jolts me forward, and more of his hands go on my wrists. The guy is uncuffing me, his hand touches mine.
I’m back in the vision. He’s sitting in an office; his head is down as he reads over paperwork. I try to step forward, but my legs are weighted and I can’t move. Now is not the time for this to fail me. I need to see more, I need to learn more.
Move your damn legs.
I shuffle forward. Looking at the paperwork, I gather everything I have inside me, evoking all my strength to move forward.
And just like that, a major roadblock lifts from inside of me. I move around freely, I see clearer, I smell everything. I’m in this vision and it’s the clearest it’s ever been.
Walking around to where this guy is pouring his energy into the paperwork, I lean down to get a better look at what he’s studying.
The connection is lost, and I’m back in the van. It’s traveling at a reasonable speed, and I try to look out the front window to get a sense of any landmarks.
“Where are we going?” I ask the guy beside me. Looking at my left hand, it’s handcuffed to a bar which is attached to the van. Essentially, I’m stuck to the interior of the van. “Where are we going?”
The man blinks at me, then stares forward, not answering my question.
“What’s happening?” Other than me, the guy beside me, and whoever is driving, the van is empty.
Again, there’s silence.
The van slows and turns right, then speeds up. Looking out the windshield, I notice we’ve turned onto an open stretch of road, leading out of any populated areas. The driver goes even faster, so fast I’m sure we’re breaking the speed limit.
Panic rises again. This is not normal. I’m not going anywhere near a police station.
Tugging on the handcuffs, they make a rattling sound against the interior side of the van. The man beside me turns, arches one brow and smirks at me. The smirk is menacing, his eyes seem demonic. He’s hiding a secret, and he’s not telling me what that secret is. I swing my body around in order to touch him, but he slides back and out of my reach.
“Sit down, for your own safety,” he orders.
I try and reach for him again. I need to know what he was looking at and where I’m going.
“Sit down!” He pulls a stun gun out of a holster behind him, warning me.
“Big man,” I taunt. “Going to stun a seventeen-year-old girl who’s handcuffed.”
He smiles and looks forward out the front window.
Suddenly, I hear a massive bang. The van swerves from side to side, before it starts to drift down the edge of the road toward the ditch. I desperately hang on to the bar I’m handcuffed to. The van rolls, and the guy in the back gets thrown around like a rag doll. The van keeps rolling.
There’s a sickening crunch, and popping sounds happening all around me as the momentum of the rolling causes my body to be flung around, while my head is continuously smashed against the bar and the metal of the van. I scream out in pain, as what feels like a blade tears through my leg.
The van eventually comes to a stop on its side. It’s crumbled. Completely destroyed. And I’m handcuffed to it.
“Hey,” I say to the guy who handcuffed me, but he’s lying by my feet, completely unresponsive.
Blurry dots are clouding my vision, and I try to blink them away.
“Hey!” I yell with more urgency and move my foot to kick the guy in the shoulder. “HEY! HELP!” I bellow when I realize he’s not in a good state. Looking forward, I try to see the driver, but he’s not in his seat. The entire front of the van is completely destroyed. It’s not even there anymore, it’s been ripped off the vehicle.
More black spots darken my sight. Fogginess fills my brain. I’m hanging on, but just barely.
I can feel my body slipping from consciousness. I’m quickly being taken over by the impact of the car accident.
Closing my eyes, I still keep trying to shout. I can hear it myself, my voice is getting weaker.
Will anyone come looking for us?
Am I going to die here? Is that what’s happening? Am I dying?
A bright light penetrates my eyelids, and forces me to open my eyes.
“Wear gloves,” I hear a male say. I don’t recognize the voice.
“I can handle a pretty little thing like her,” another male responds. The lewd and creepy way he says ‘pretty little’ makes my skin crawl.
Fighting with my eyes, I try and open them so I can see who these people are.
“Come here, my cute little friend,” the creepy guy says again. My body is swung around while something hot nips at my wrists. “I’m gonna have a lot of fun with this one.”
The veil of darkness is winning. I’m losing it. Losing every ounce of control I have.
“I told you, she’s not your toy. And wear gloves.”
“Why do I have to wear gloves?”
“Because we’re under instruction. He said we have to wear gloves, so wear your God damned gloves.”
“This is stupid. Why should I wear gloves?”
“Because I heard him saying, she’s got a gift.”
“A gift? What the . . .”
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Jude
With my phone in my hand, I pace the floor of my office. I stop every few steps and look down, waiting for the phone call to come.
“Where the hell is she?” I say aloud to no one.
Swallowing my anger, I run my hand through my hair, then down the back of my neck to squeeze the tense muscles. She’s been gone for nearly two weeks, and no one knows what’s happened to her.
Everyone I pay at the police department to keep me informed is failing miserably. I�
��ve called on every contact I have, and no one knows anything. It’s like she’s vanished.
The raid on my house was a damned ruse. It was orchestrated to get Lexi out and take her away from me. But I still have no idea who did this. One department is saying it’s another department, and no one seems to know anything for sure.
Stopping in front of the desk, I swing my laptop around and play the security footage taken just before they took Lexi from me.
I watch as they come into my house, I watch how the men I paid to look after her froze and dropped to the floor instead of grabbing Alexa and hiding her in the safe room. They’ve all been fired, replaced with men I know will do exactly what they’re supposed to do. Some are even mercenaries, hired for their comfort with extreme brute force.
Placing my phone on the desk, I flex my right hand and rub my bruised knuckles. Don, the guard at the door who let them enter my home, copped the worst from me. He let those animals inside my house. He let them take my girl without even questioning their fake credentials.
He had to be held responsible. He deserved what he got. Everyone knows what happens when you cross me.
I stretch my hand once more; the ache is a welcome. If I could, I’d go back and bludgeon his skull in again. But he’s been disposed of, like the trash he is.
My eyes keep watching the screen, how they’re handling my girl. They’re careful not to touch her. They know. They have to know. They wouldn’t go to all this trouble to get her if they didn’t.
My head of security, Ronan, was with me when it all happened. He was remotely watching over the house, and the moment he saw it unfold and informed me, I left my meeting with the Sorrell family and took the jet straight back here. Hell, I even had the pilot put it down on the landing strip here, instead of at the hangar.
But we were six hours too late. Lexi was gone. Frank was beaten nearly to death, and most of my men were dumped in the middle of nowhere.
The van that took Lexi disappeared.
We can’t find it, and we have no idea who has her.
Ronan’s been searching and hacking into every security system he can to find her. I haven’t slept since she’s been gone. I’m on the very edge of losing my shit and about to start breaking down doors until I get the answers I need.
Ronan appears at my door, with his laptop in his hand. His eyes tell me I’m not going to like what he’s found. She’d better be alive, or I’ll find and torture every person who’s been part of her death. Every person who’s profited from, touched, or hurt her, will die.
“Ronan.” I gesture for him to come into my office. “What have you got?”
He doesn’t speak. He’s usually the quiet type, the guy who gets things done and doesn’t say much. I like him because he takes instruction well. He’s been my right-hand man for as long as I’ve been in this business.
“I’ve found her.” He types furiously on the screen, bringing up multiple images.
The one in the top left hand corner is of the van. Destroyed and crumpled. The front of the van is completely destroyed. It doesn’t look like the driver could have survived the wreck.
“Who has her?” My eyes furiously search all the images on the screen.
Ronan is quiet.
Fury overtakes me.
Something inside me snaps. Ronan’s silence is alarming and I’m ready to murder every fucker who’s put their hands on her.
“Who has her?” I shout at Ronan.
“You’re not going to like this . . .”
Dying Wish
I have three major loves in my life: my family, my best friend Becky, and ballet. Elijah Turner is quickly becoming the fourth.
He's been around as long as I can remember. But now he's much more than just the annoying guy at school.
My life was working out perfectly...until it got turned upside down.
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Mistrust
I’m the popular girl at school.
The one everyone wants to be friends with.
I have the best boyfriend in the world, who’s on the basketball team.
My parents adore me, and I absolutely love them. My sister and I have a great relationship too.
I’m a cheerleader, I have a high GPA and I’m liked even by the teachers.
It was a night which promised to be filled with love and fun until…something happened which changed everything.
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Ugly
*This is a dark YA/NA standalone, full-length novel. Contains violence and some explicit language*
If I were dead, I wouldn't be able to see.
If I were dead, I wouldn't be able to feel.
If I were dead, he'd never raise his hand to me again.
If I were dead, his words wouldn't cut as deep as they do.
If I were dead, I'd be beautiful and I wouldn't be so...ugly.
I'm not dead...but I wish I was.
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Chef Pierre
Holly Walker had everything she’d ever dreamed about – a happy marriage and being mum to beautiful brown-eyed Emma - until an accident nineteen months ago tore her world apart. Now she's a widow and single mother to a boisterous little 7-year-old girl, looking for a new start. Ready to take the next step, Holly has found herself a job as a maître d' at Table One, a once-acclaimed restaurant in the heart of Sydney. But one extremely arrogant Frenchman isn't going to be easy to work with...
Twenty years ago, Pierre LeRoux came to Australia, following the stunning Aussie girl he'd fallen in love with and married. He and his wife put their personal lives on hold, determined for Pierre to take Sydney's culinary society by storm. Just as his bright star was on the upswing, tragedy claimed the woman he was hopelessly in love with. He had been known as a Master Chef, but since his wife’s death he has become known as a monster chef.
Can two broken people rebuild their lives and find happiness once more?
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Smoke and Mirrors
Words can trick us.
Smoke obscures objects on the edge of our vision.
A mirror may reflect, but the eye sees what it wants.
A delicate scent can evoke another time and place, a memory from the past.
And a sentence can deceive you, even as you read it.
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Grit
***Recommended for 18 years and over***
Alpha MC Prez Jaeger Dalton wants the land that was promised to him.
Sassy Phoenix Ward isn’t about to let anyone take Freedom Run away from her.
He’ll protect what’s his.
She’ll protect what’s hers.
Jaeger is an arrogant ass, but he wants nothing more than Phoenix.
Phoenix is stubborn and headstrong, and she wants Jaeger out of her life.
Her father lost the family farm to gambling debts, but Jaeger isn’t the only one who has a claim to the property.
Sometimes it’s best to let things go.
But sometimes it’s better to fight until the very end.
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Yes, Master
**** THIS PROLOGUE CONTAINS DISTRESSING CONTENT. IT IS ONLY SUITED FOR READERS OVER 18. ****
ALSO CONTAINS M/M, M/M/F, M/F AND F/F SCENES.
My uncle abused me.
I was 10 years old when it started.
At 13 he told me I was no longer wanted because I had started to develop.
At 16 I was ready to kill him.
Today, I’m broken.
Today, I only breathe to survive.
My name’s Sergeant Major Ryan Jenkins and today, I’m ready to tell you my story.
A Life Less Broken
***CONTAINS DISTRESSING CONTENT. 18+***
On a day like any other, Allyn Sommers went off to work, not knowing that her life was about to be irrevocably and horrifically altered.
/> Three years later, Allyn is still a prisoner in her own home, held captive by harrowing fear. Broken and damaged, Allyn seeks help from someone that fate put in her path.
Dr. Dominic Shriver is a psychiatrist who’s drawn to difficult cases. He must push past his own personal battles to help Allyn fight her monsters and nightmares.
Is Dr. Shriver the answer to her healing?
Can Allyn overcome being broken?
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My Life for Yours
He’s lived a life of high society and privilege; he chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Senator.
She’s lived a life surrounded with underworld activity; she had no choice but to follow in her father’s footsteps and take on the role of Mob Boss.
He wants to stamp out organized crime and can’t be bought off.
She's the ruthless and tough Mob Boss where in her world all lines are blurred.
Their lives are completely different, two walks of life on the opposite ends of the law.
Being together doesn’t make sense.
But being apart isn’t an option
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HiT Series Box Set
HiT 149
Anna Brookes is not your typical teenager. Her walls are not adorned with posters of boy bands or movie stars. Instead posters from Glock, Ruger, and Smith & Wesson grace her bedroom. Anna’s mother abandoned her at birth, and her father, St. Cloud Police Chief Henry Brookes, taught her how to shoot and coached her to excellence. On Anna’s fifteenth birthday, unwelcome guests join the celebration, and Anna’s world is never the same. You’ll meet the world’s top assassin, 15, and follow her as she discovers the one hit she’s not sure she can complete – Ben Pearson, the current St. Cloud Police Chief and a man with whom Anna has explosive sexual chemistry. Enter a world of intrigue, power, and treachery as Anna takes on old and new enemies, while falling in love with the one man with whom she can’t have a relationship.
The Gift: The Butterfly Effect, Book 1. Page 17