Chapter 1




Don’t stop, Abbey! Don’t think! Just run!

The mantra repeated in her head over and over again. It was all that was keeping her from giving up. She couldn’t allow him to win. She was running harder than she had ever run before in her life. She could feel her heart pumping from the strain and the fear. She should be exhausted, but terror kept her going at a breakneck speed that surprised even her.

She knew he was close behind her. She couldn’t let him get her. If he caught her she would die. She knew it. He knew it. The months of threat and control would come to an end. If she was going to die she would die defying him, showing strength. She would not allow him to kill her slowly. She could not stand another day of disgust with him. She was going to get away from him one way or another. If death was the way—so be it.

The branches of the trees that bordered her property ripped at her clothing. She was running so fast she wasn’t even sure if she was on track. Her plans to leave had been shot to hell. He had done that, and now she had to figure out a new way to get away. If she could just get to the cliff’s edge, she would be able to make it to the neighboring town and figure out how she could carry through with her plan. All she needed was one chance.

“Abbey!” his angry voice called out from behind her.

He was too close. She wasn’t going to make it. She forced herself to swallow the bile that rose in her throat. There was no turning back. She had to get away. She veered off toward the left, nearly crying with relief when she saw the familiar path she had walked on her daily exploration of the lush land that belonged to her father that she loved so dearly.

She ignored the pain in her side as her breath came in short gasps. She reached down and held her ribs tenderly, smiling with satisfaction despite her pain. The bastard had caused her pain for the last time. There was no way he was ever going to touch her again—especially not sexually. She could not stomach his touch. It made her feel dirty and used.

Today’s lesson at his hands was one she would never have to experience again. She had been the recipient of his anger for each of the last five months when she had gotten her period. Each time she told him she wasn’t pregnant, his anger had escalated. But today’s threat was one she could not ignore. And that was the end of her tolerance for him. The Board of Directors be damned. No stock value was worth an unhappy life just to keep up the value of her company.

He knew he wasn’t able to access any of her money as her husband, so he had insisted on having a child with her. He didn’t know that she was privy to the reason for his sudden interest in having children. Her lawyer had kept her informed of every inquiry her husband had made. The prenuptial agreement had stipulated that he would gain access to her money through their child only if she ceased to exist. A deplorable plan, but typical of the sociopath that was her husband.

She had been fooled by his charm and his good looks. He had been a player from the beginning, but she hadn’t been aware of it. She hadn’t been involved with many men. She was shy as a woman, although she was competent and sure of herself as the CEO of her father’s computer software company since his death three years before. She had been cautious with men, not really trusting them since they tended to come on to her with clear intentions of bagging the rich daughter of Brandon Tyler.

It wasn’t that Abbey wasn’t an attractive woman. She was actually pretty confident in her looks. She may have an extra few pounds on her, but her five foot eight inch frame carried it well. She was curvy and feminine, with blue eyes she was told were pretty, and dark brown hair that fell in curls to just below her shoulders. At thirty-three years old, she had finally come to accept the fact that she was destined to be alone in her life. She had been pretty depressed about that realization when Synthia and Shelly had taken her to one of the local bars. That was the night she had met Peter, and he had asked her to dance.