Prologue

Bella Swan crossed her legs and pulled her chair up to the small wooden desk. Her laptop was open in front of her, but not connected to the internet. No matter how badly she wanted to establish connection, surf through her social media accounts, she didn't dare. It wasn't safe.

Instead, she found herself flipping through the dozens of pictures stored on her hard drive. The small, raven hair girl grinned toothlessly at her in one picture. Her face was covered in vanilla ice cream, and her skin was pink from hours spent in the sun.

Tears flooded Bella's eyes as she clicked on the next picture. This one of the same small girl hanging on Bella's back. Her arms were wrapped around her neck, her smile bright and loving. She brought her hand up, tracing the delicate features of the small girl. If she tried hard enough, she could almost feel the girls arms wrapped around her, the heat of her skin contracting her constant coolness. The sound of the girl's laughter echoed inside her head, always reminding her of the happier times in her life. Before everything changed.

Bella was about to click on the next picture when the door to the small motel room was thrown open. Startled, she scrambled to her feet as a tall, thin auburn haired man rushed inside, slamming the door behind him. His green eyes shifted to hers and she knew what words were going to leave his mouth before he even said them.

"He's found us. We have to leave. Now."

"How?" she cried out as she closed her laptop and yanked it off the desk.

"I don't know. Just hurry."

Bella choked back the tears that threatened to fall as she turned toward the bed. She shoved her laptop back into her suitcase, but before she could sip the case up, the door was once again thrown open. Like slow motion, she turned toward the door at the same moment that he leapt over the bed and stood in front of her, his arm reaching back to cage her against his body as he pulled the black handgun from the holster on his left hip.

Standing in the doorway, an evil grin on his lips, stood that man who ruined her life. The man who killed her daughter, and now, wanted to kill her, too.