Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) (24 page)

“I’m sorry!” I half-scream, half-cry. 
My voice
weakens
in the strain of my struggle.  “I’m
sorry, Leo.  I love you
s
o much.”

My fingers slip.  I’m pulled through the doorway.

Something hard crashes
down
on my head from above.

Then
there
is
nothing.

Nothing

I remember them dragging Morgan to
the door.

I remember the look of terror on her
face.

I remember the vicious tearing of my
heart as she disappeared from my view.

Lost from me.

Forever.

It’s rare that I’m afraid.  I’ve
faced death over and over again, and I’ve accepted it every time.  What I can’t
face is life without love, the reality that will consume me when I open my
eyes.

Morgan is but a beautiful memory. 
She may be only a speck among the universe, but she is everything to me, and
there is no universe without her.  There is no life or love or feeling.  There
is nothing left for me.

Nothing.

The air smells fresh.  The sun beams
down on my skin but gives me no warmth.  The wind blows soft whisperings
against my ear
s
, teasing me.   The world is so
beautiful, and yet I hate it all.  It’s nothing but a facade to the universe. 
It hides cruelty and pain and suffering so well.

I reluctantly open my eyes
.
 T
he world
is
tipped
sideways as I find myself discarded on a rough surface.  A door opens in front
of me, and the figure that emerges is not someone I expect.

He
’s someone I owe everything to. 
He
’s someone I took everything from.

Robert Whitford.  Morgan’s father. 
Family member of the woman I love.  The man who knows me as her kidnapper,
torturer, and rapist.

He looks at me with hatred and
disgust.  He is furious, beyond reason, feral.

I stare up at him
,
and
all I can think about is everything that we have in common:
we’ve both lost everything to Mark, we both love Morgan more than life itself,
and we’d both do anything to get her back.

Robert kneels down in front of me
predatorily.  He takes me by the shirt, lifting my upper body closer to him as
he is barely able to control his rage.  His hand is shaking, his loathing of me
fuming in every aspect of his face.

When he pulls
out
a gun from behind him
,
I know that
in one way or another it’s over for me.

He swings it high above his head.

Then there is darkness.

It’s a bit surreal to be writing this. 
When I decided on a whim to sign up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing
Month) on Halloween night in 2013 within hours of the official start of the
month-long
event, I never thought I’d end up writing the first draft of
an entire two-part series in a little over a month and a half.

This is a story I’ve had in my head for
a long time, and NaNoWriMo gave me the motivation and drive to finally get it
out into the world in a manner of writing that was completely unlike what I did
for my debut novel,
Someone to Listen
.  I just let myself write,
setting
aside
the
striving
perfectionist
within me to let my ideas and thoughts and the story flow out onto the page
more
naturally.  Letting myself write like this and sharing in the
experience of NaNoWriMo with so many other authors was an experience I’ll never
forget
,
and it will likely shape how I approach
writing my future novels.

So to NaNoWriMo and the authors who
participated
in it
and inspired me to do this, you are
all rock stars.  From the bottom of my indie author heart, thank you.

To my family, thanks for putting up
with my crazy hours at the keyboard and letting me continue this dream of
get
ting the stories in my head down on virtual paper for the world to
read.  Writing has become my unexplainable passion and addiction, and I wish I
could magically make more hours in the day so that I wasn’t sacrificing time
with you to do this thing
that
I love.

To the book bloggers out there, you’re
all amazing.  Everything you do to help
indie
authors
spread the word on their works gets books into the hands of readers who may
have never even known about those books
otherwise
.  I
am eternally grateful for all that you do for authors and readers alike.  Thank
you for dedicating your time to the love of reading and to those who share that
love.

To my readers and supporters in social
media land, thank you for giving even a minute of your time to support me and
other indie authors.  We love what we do, and you make us love it even more. 
Your support and encouragement make all the long hours and hard work and extra
caffeine and alcohol consumption worth it.

If you’ve ever thought about writing a
book, don’t be afraid to do so.  If you have a story brewing in your head, take
advantage of the self-publishing tools available and join
me in this
adventure
.  Take the plunge and see what happens.  There’s an
entire world waiting to hear your story, all you have to do is tell it.

Thanks for supporting an indie author and joining me on
this foray into New Adult Romantic Suspense.  I hope you enjoy the conclusion
of the story in
Beyond Revenge
, part two of The Ransom Series.

Beyond Revenge

Part Two of The
Ransom Series

New Adult Romantic
Suspense

Coming February 8, 2014

We made a decision.

We had a plan.

We were so close to having it all, then it was snatched away
before our eyes.

Our bodies and minds are pushed to the brink of destruction. 
We wither away into darkness with more to lose than ever, but we are strengthened
by our love and hold on to hope.  It’s all we have left in the devastating chasm
between us.

We keep reaching and holding on, striving to overcome the
power of vengeance. 

We will find a way.

Someone to Listen

New Adult
Contemporary Romance

Abby wanted a fresh start, a new life thousands of miles
away from her four difficult years of high school and the rumors that followed
her.  As she begins her college experience in Boston, she finds friendship and
love she didn’t expect, people who show her that she doesn’t have to be alone.

She is torn between two paths, inexplicably drawn to two
completely different guys.  One understands her and reminds her of who she used
to be, the broken shadow of a person wandering through life but not truly living. 
The other is the key to her future, the guiding hand that she waited for years
to pull her out of the darkness and into the light.

When Abby’s newfound happiness and renewed existence are
threatened, everything changes.  She can fall back to that dark place within
her or fight to save her future.

She faces the same struggle she has all along: getting
someone to hear her, finding someone to believe her.

All she ever needed was someone to listen.

A.T. Douglas embraced her renewed passion for reading by
self-publishing her debut novel,
Someone to Listen
, in August 2013.  Fueled
by her love of music and her addiction to the Young Adult/New Adult genres, she
strives to turn daydreams and the realities of life into words the world can read.
 She lives in New Hampshire, USA, with her husband and son and wishes
desperately that there were more hours in the day for family, reading, and
writing.

Follow her random musings online:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/a2tdouglas

Twitter: @a2tdouglas

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/atdouglas

Blog: atdouglas.wordpress.com