Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Just like in my dream, the door creaks open with the wind. What should be the entrance to a safe space, a happy home, is now the portal to my private hell.
There are bloodstains on the stairs. A smeared handprint. The sounds of Burgess and the techs murmuring to each other at the back of the house fade behind a high, frantic keening.
I don’t need to continue on to know what’s happened here. The bodies of the family are lying on the floor, tied by cords. The throats will be cut. Their eyes will be open, straining for help that won’t come.
This is exactly what I dreamed of. Everything I’ve been dreading has come true.
I run out of the house. I can’t see, can’t think. I stagger down the steps. Someone’s calling Ramos? Ramos? But I’m still running. The world has gone dark.
And then I sense him.
“Inara,” Rex’s deep voice makes me turn. I can’t see him, only sense him, but I race into his arms.
I don’t care that he’s Rex Roy and everyone’s watching. I let him wrap his arms around me and bury my face in his chest. The terror is too intense; it fills my throat and won’t let me speak.
“It’s okay,” he says. “You’re all right, little bird. I’m here.”
I hang onto his coat until the world stops spinning. The wool scratches my face. I keep telling myself my submission to him is an act, a way to win, a show of pretend surrender. But at this moment, his comfort is real. I need him.
Finally, I croak, “Why are you here?”
He hesitates, and I know it’s bad. “I had one of my assistants stop by your townhouse to pick up your mail.” He pulls a thick envelope out of his pocket. “He found this. I thought you should see it right away.”
The envelope is old and dirty, with brown stains in the corner. There’s a faint smell of smoke clinging to the pages.
There’s no address, only a cramped scrawl on the front. Swallow.
A chill shoots through my heart. With shaky hands, I pull out the pack of letters and open the first one.
At first, I don’t know what I’m looking at.
Darling Swallow, the letter reads. Inara. My home, my own. I’m coming for you.
The scrawl continues down the page, the ravings of a madman. He calls me Swallow and claims I’m the only one for him. That he’s been watching me for years.
Each letter is signed BK. Exactly how he signed the letters he sent to the police, boasting of his crimes years ago.
My legs buckle under the dawning horror. Only Rex’s support keeps me upright.
I’m back in my childhood bedroom, listening for the murderer in my home. Knowing he’s destroying my family, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
“I know who sent these letters.” It’s the same man who visited death upon this family last night.
The same one I faced the night my family had been murdered.
The scene is exactly from my dreams, but I’m not asleep. I’m awake, my heart numb with the knowledge of what’s happening.
The nightmare has started again.
“It’s him,” I breathe. I look up at Rex and then to the house where the rest of the horror lies. “The Bondage Killer. The man who killed my family is back.”