Description
Welcome To Adams County, Alabama, Population 10,374 – And Falling…
Adams County, Alabama is the kind of town where
everyone knows each other’s business, the kind of place where doors stay
unlocked. Until a psychopath comes calling.
Dubbed The Secret Admire, he woos his victims
with phone calls, love letters and gifts, before striking, kidnapping and then brutally
murdering them.
A terrifying game is underway. Sheriff Bernie
Granger- in her first big case and following in her father’s footsteps – is desperate
to stop this deprived serial killer before he slaughters another young woman. But
is she getting closer to catching him – or being drawn even deeper into his
deadly web?
Chapter 1
Please, dear God, let him kill me.
Stephanie Preston lay on the narrow cot,
listening to the rapid beat of her heart. Staring up at the ceiling in the
small, dark room, she tried to pretend she was somewhere else. At home, with
Kyle. Or at work, surrounded by people she knew and trusted. Perhaps at church,
where she sang in the choir. Anywhere but
here. With anyone but him.
As hard
as she tried to mentally remove herself from the reality of this moment, from
where she was and what was happening to her, she could not fully escape into
her mind.
Try harder.
Think about last Christmas. About how surprised you were when Kyle proposed, on
bended knee, right there in front of your parents and your sisters.
Just as the image of her smiling parents
flashed through her mind, the man on top of her rammed into her again, harder
this time. With more fury. And his fingers dug into her hips as he forced her
body upward to meet his savage thrust. As he accelerated the hardness and speed
of his deep lunges, he voiced his need, as he did every time he raped her.
“Tell me.” He growled the words. “Say it. You
know what I want to hear.”
No, I won’t. Not this
time. I can’t. I can’t.
She lay beneath him, silence and unmoving,
longing for death, knowing what was going to happen next.
He slowed, then stopped and lifted himself
enough to gaze down into her face. She closed her eyes, not wanting to look at
him. Not wanting to see the face of terror.
He grabbed her, clutching her chin between
his index finger and thumb, pressing painfully into her cheeks. “Open your
eyes, bitch. Open your eyes and look at me.”
Her eyelids flickered. Don’t obey him. Not
this time. Be strong.
“Why are you being so
stubborn?” he asked, a tone of genuine puzzlement in his voice. “You know that I
can force you to do whatever I want. Why make it so hard on yourself?
You know that, in the
end, you will obey me.”
“Please…” She opened her eyes and looked at
him through a mist of tears.
“Please, what?”
Tears pooled in her eyes despite her
determination not to cry. He liked it when she cried. “Just finish it.”
“If you want me to finish with you, then
tell me what I want to hear. Otherwise, I’ll punish you. I’ll make it last a long
time.” Lowering his head to her breast, he opened his mouth and bared his teeth.
Before she could respond, he clamped down on her nipple and bit.
She cried out in pain. He thrust into her
several times. Harder each time.
When he moved his
mouth to the other breast, she gasped, the cried out hurriedly, “I love you. I
want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. Please, darling make love to me.”
He smiled. God, how she hated his smile.
“That is a good girl.
Since you asked so nicely, I’ll give you what you want.”
She lay there beneath him and endured the
rape, hating every moment, despising him and loathing herself for having given
in to him yet again.
This can’t go
on forever. Sooner or later, he’ll kill me.
I hope it’s
soon. I hope it’s very soon.
About the author
An avid reader since childhood, Beverly Barton wrote her first book at the age of nine. Since then, she has gone to write well over 60 novels and is a New York Times bestselling author. Beverly lives in Alabama in the United States.
finish it up by getting one for yourself.
