Monday, July 22, 2013

Summer Blog Hop! Prizes to be won!

The Summer Blog Hop is here!

It'll be running from 27-29 July with great prizes such as a Kindle Fire to be won.

Go to this website to win lots of great prizes from top selling Indie authors. 
http://splashhop.blogspot.fr/p/holiday-blog-hop.html Go on, hop around what have you got to lose?




For my part I'll be giving away a signed paperback copy of the best-selling thriller Cruel Justice (leave a comment below to win. The ebook version will be on offer throughout the hop for only $0.99. Please leave a comment on the main website above to enter to win the other prizes available. 

You can sign up to hear about my new releases here. Newsletter

You can read a sample here - be warned it's not for the faint-hearted! :-)

Cruel Justice (Justice series (Book one))CRUEL JUSTICE 


Prologue


August 30, 2007




The pain intensified from the welts on her naked back. The woman had no concept of time, no idea how long shed been tied up. Her hands, tightly bound to an old wooden chair, had lost all feeling.


Was this how her life would end?


She had finally grown used to the vile stench permeating her temporary cell.


Time, all she had was time. Time to think, time to ask herself the same questions, over and over. Who was her captor? And why was he holding her captive? What unspeakable thing had she done in her life to make a complete stranger treat her that way? Im a kind and caring person, aren’t I?


What type of person keeps a woman locked up in a hellhole like this?


He tortured her with silence when he brought her food, if she could call week-old bread food. She had tried different ways to get a reaction out of him, shouting, reasoning—even her pitiful attempt at begging had fallen on deaf ears. His sneer, and the way his dark eyes roamed her naked body, made her skin crawl.


Her own thoughts had started torturing her. Her aching limbs cried out for warm lavender oil–filled baths, if only to wash away the urine stinging her legs and the faeces clinging to her behind. She felt utterly degraded, a far cry from her usual opulent lifestyle.


Every waking minute dragged into agonisingly long hours. Please, when will this nightmare end? How will this nightmare end? she repeatedly asked her Maker.


Water dripped constantly in the corner, adding to her torment. She blocked out the noise by reminiscing about happier moments, hoping the memories would help drive away the insanity threatening to seep into her mind. Fearing her life would soon come to an end, she prayed endlessly that her dead husband would be there to greet her when she finally passed over. How wonderful it would be to feel his arms comforting me now.


Her heart leapt into her throat when the hatch door swung open. The sudden rush of daylight hurt her eyes, causing them to water. She winced and was swiftly reminded that her right eye had doubled in size from the beating received a few days earlier.


The man gingerly made his way down the precarious ladder, followed by another person.


Her pulse accelerated, furiously gathering momentum. The man crossed the stone floor and stopped in front of her, while the other person disappeared into the shadows to her side.


Please, please let me go, she pleaded.


The man stared at her for a moment before the vilest of laughs escaped his lips. Why? Tell me why I should let you go?


I beg of you, please, tell me what I have done?


He smirked and circled her chair. Ah, ignorance is a blissful thing.”


Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed it back down. Please, Im begging you. Please tell me what I’ve done wrong?


Through clenched teeth, he said, If only you had done something, helped in some way; but you didn’t, did you? It was far easier to just leave us there, to let us rot in that shithole for years. Well, now you know how it feels.


The venom in his voice made her flinchIm sorry, but I have no idea what you mean. Do I know you?


Youre all the same. You avoid helping those who cry for help. Your kind makes me sick.” He jerked his head and spat on her face. “You and your ilk think you’re all so mighty. But you’re no better than the shite you’re sitting on. You’re all full of it!”


She cried as he ranted at her.


“You’re a filthy, whimpering bitch! What are you?”


She bowed her head.


Look at me when I’m talking to you.”


She picked up her head.


“Now what are you?”


“I’m a filthy…”


“Yes? You’re a filthy what?”


Snot ran into her mouth as she said, “I…I’m a filthy…whimpering, bitch…” Her throat tightened.


His laughter filled the room.


“Please, could I have a drink of water?”


“Oh, madam would like to quench her thirst?”


“Please?”


“And how about something to eat? You must be hungry. No?”


“Yes.”


The man pulled a pair of rubber gloves from his jacket pocket and slipped his hands into them. He then moved to the back of the chair.


She couldn’t figure out what he was doing, but when he came to stand in front of her again, he smiled. She gulped at what he had in his hand. Her heart pounded.


“Open your mouth.”


“Please don’t…”


“But you’re hungry. Right? You said you were hungry. Now open your mouth. Wide.”


Eyes stinging, she opened her mouth, and the wider she did, the more her already-chapped lips cracked.


“Yes, your kind are full of it.” He moved closer and shoved a handful of faeces into her mouth. “Now chew and swallow it!”


Between gagging and sobbing, she consumed her own filth.


He looked down towards her pubic area. “You really are a filthy bitch.” He removed the gloves and tossed them on the floor.


Between bouts of hysterical laughter, he continued shouting obscenities, but his words seemed jumbled to her already confused mind.


Still very much amused, he turned and walked towards the ladder.


Oh, thank God, they’re leaving. She closed her tired eyes for a second, but when she opened them, he was on his way back. Then she noticed the metal bar in his right hand.


Oh, God. Is this the end?


He shuffled closer. “You disgust me!”


Covered in goose bumps, and teeth chattering, she peered up into the evil black eyes angrily eating through her flesh.


Did you hear me?


II dont understand. What have I done to deserve this? she mumbled.


“I have had enough, you stuttering, smelly bitch.” He raised the bar.


The womans terrified scream pierced the tiny room, but her terror was lost in his madness. The bar crashed down, and in one blow, he smashed her skull wide open. Her lifes blood ebbed away.


He continued hitting her as images of his childhood ran through his crazed mind. Strike after strike, he punished her, unaware that her last breath had left her body five minutes before.


Satisfaction overwhelmed him.


A large saw lay in the cellar corner, and as though about to reach an orgasm, he grabbed it and positioned it on the woman’s lifeless neck. Back and forth, back and forth, he pushed it—faster, faster—and as he cut through the tendons and bones, he clenched his teeth until her head fell onto the floor.


The other person stepped out from the shadows from whence she’d silently observed the proceedings.


He turned to face her. He could tell, by the way her face lit up, she was pleased with the precision and the eagerness of his actions.


“The first part of the puzzle is now in place,” said the man.


“Yes, and we both know there’s no turning back, now.”


“Yes. This is just the beginning…”



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