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PROLOGUE

Beverly Sinclair had finally done it After years of working to get her life on track, she finally had a decent job, a great husband, and the smartest, most beautiful baby boy ever born He was only three weeks old, but she was certain he was destined for great things

She could hardly wait to show Cory off to her friend Isabelle

The doorbell rang five minutes early, but that was just like Isabelle She was never late a day in her life

Beverly rushed to the door, filled with a proud, maternal excitement she’d never known existed before Cory was born Isabelle was going to love hi a welco her inside before she had tiainst the wall

Shock jolted through her,it hard to breathe A screas heaved, filling with air scented by a faint hint of ne

He kicked the door shut behind hi thud

Fros of her baby’s cry

She had to get Cory out of the house Run away

Panic flooded her body with strength, and she shoved hard against her attacker She let out a cry of outrage that made her throat burn with its ferocity

The h that Beverly was able to slip out of his reach, but her freedorabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her back, catching her before she fell

She saw a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye and turned toward it, praying it wasn’t a knife even as she brought her ar blade But thewet and cold hit her face as a sharpdoll, and her captor’s ar the hard tile floor

Beverly tried to move, but her body didn’t respond She could see and hear perfectly, but nothing else worked Her ars buzzed for a moment, then went numb She couldn’t move She couldn’t even twitch

The ently to the floor "We can’t have you bruised," he said in a clinical tone "That would ruin everything"

A thick, suffocating fear settled over Beverly She had no idea what he ood Not for her Not for her baby

Cory let out an angry wail, giving away his presence in the next roo--her ar

A hoarse e, and even that wasn’t loud enough to be heard in the next roohbors

The man smoothed her hair away froht into his bright blue eyes "Everything’s going to be okay You’ll see I’ood care of you"

Helplessness made it hard to breathe, i on the floor, struggling to e that Isabelle would be here at any minute kept her sane Isabelle would save her

She heard water running in the bathroo her it o Isabelle would be stepping through the door at any second

Cory’s cries got louder Maybe the neighbors would hear him

Please, let them hear him

The man came out of the bathrooe Monstrous He was a giant black shadow ready to devour her

"We don’t have et you out of those clothes"

Beverly’s heart gave a hard, fearful kick She struggled not to panic She had to stay calet him out of this any way she could

Theand carried her into the bathroom The air felt war in the tub

A tingling sensation began along the bottom of her feet, and hopeful excitement made her break out in a cold sweat Maybe whatever he’d done to paralyze her earing off

The loves, but ouldn’t want to leave any fingerprints behind, would we?"

He stripped the shirt off her body and reached around her to unfasten her bra A new kind of panic found its way to the surface as Beverly realized that he ain, if that was all he wanted and he left Cory alone, she’d count herself fortunate

He continued stripping her clothes away, talking to her in a calm voice "I have too much work to do Toosensation worked its way up her legs, and she began to get the feeling back in her hands, too As ht hi hie she ive it up

She still wore her stretchy maternity pants because they were more comfortable, and he slid thes without any trouble He didn’t even look at her naked body There was no hint of lust in his eyes, only clinical detachment as he lifted her into the bathtub

War the sides to hold her head up

Beverly lay there, naked Helpless She cringed every tie to jerk away fro his little head off in the next room, and she silently willed him to quiet down To not draw attention to himself

Where the hell was Isabelle? She was never late, unlike Beverly, as late so often her husband had set every clock in the house fifteen minutes fast

Oh, God

Isabelle wasn’t due for another ten minutes, at least A lot could happen in ten minutes Too much