Silenced Witness
Author
K.D. Richards
Reads
17.5K
Chapters
28
She won't quit until she gets justice. He won't stop until she's safe. After her brother dies under a cloud of suspicion, Alexis Douglas will do whatever it takes to clear his name. Enlisting the help of TJ Roman proves a double-edged sword. Her brother's onetime best friend, the ex-military PI can't afford any missteps. Alexis's safety is all that matters, despite the powerful attraction drawing them closer. Up against a killer desperate to keep the truth buried, TJ must step up his game before he and Alexis are both silenced forever.
Chapter One
Alexis Douglas awoke with a start and listened. She’d heard something, or she thought she had, but all was still in her darkened bedroom and there was no sound in the house. She closed her eyes and settled deeper into her soft mattress.
She was on the cusp of falling asleep when she heard the sound again.
Her eyes flew open.
A thin beam of light snaked through the blinds on her bedroom window. Her neighbor’s security lights. Maybe Ronnie was out on his back porch. He liked to have a cigarette from time to time and his wife wouldn’t allow him to smoke inside their home.
Alexis focused, listening again for the sound that had awakened her. She heard nothing. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
A minute ticked by. Then another, with each moment increasing the apprehension twisting her stomach into knots.
Creeaak.
She knew that sound. It was a loose floorboard, one of many in the sixty-year-old house she’d bought a year ago with the intention of fixing it up. She’d been too busy with her business as a personal chef to do any renovations other than to the kitchen, which had become her favorite spot in the house.
Alexis bolted out of bed, crouching down in the narrow space between the wall and the bed frame. Her eyes darted over the darkened room for a weapon or a way out. The bedroom was on the second floor, so jumping from the window was a last resort. Unfortunately for her, she liked to keep her space clean and the clutter minimal. No random cutlery sitting around from a midnight snack. Her clothes were hung, by color and season, in her closet or folded neatly in the dresser. The only thing on her nightstand was the hardback she was slowly making her way through. She’d even left her cell phone downstairs to charge rather than plugging it in next to the bed, which was supposed to be the healthier choice according to an article she’d read earlier that week.
Now, she was looking at facing an intruder with nothing but the latest Naomi Hirahara thriller to defend herself with.
But she couldn’t just stay cowering next to the bed. She’d be cornered if the intruder came into the bedroom. Same with hiding in the closet.
Another floorboard creaked down the hall.
She grabbed the book from her bedside table, and as quickly and quietly as she could, hurried toward the bedroom door. Flattening her back against the sliver of space between the doorframe and the dresser, she listened for sounds of the intruder entering the room.
Time felt as if it were moving in slow motion. Sweat beaded on her skin, making it sticky even though she’d turned the thermostat down to sixty-six before she’d gone to bed.
The faintest sound of rustling material came from the hall, followed by the soft fall of footsteps.
Trembling, she held the book against her chest as the bedroom door slid open slowly.
Her chest tightened even as it seemed to her as though every breath rumbled into her lungs with the force of a locomotive.
The intruder, a man based on the build, in dark-colored pants and shirt, crept toward the bed. She wasn’t a small woman, five-seven with ample curves and she worked out regularly, but she could see that the man had several inches and at least thirty pounds on her. And although it didn’t look like he had a weapon on him, there was no way for her to be sure of that. Still, she had to do what she could to protect herself.
She didn’t move until the man’s back was fully to her. Then, lifting the book high above her head, she raced forward with a battle cry she hoped would catch him off guard.
He turned, his eyes wide in the eyelet cutouts of the ski mask he wore over his face.
She slammed the book into his jaw with all her strength, then let it fall to the floor as she turned and ran. Three-hundred-fifty pages might stun, but it wouldn’t incapacitate a man of his size. She had to get out of the house fast.
Her bare feet slapped against the wood floor of the hallway. She made it to the top of the stairs before a hand grabbed her roughly from behind and she was thrown to the floor. She landed on her back and the intruder was on her before she could make any attempt to get to her feet.
His hand clamped down over her mouth, muffling the scream that tore out of her throat. She bucked and thrashed, trying to throw him off or free an arm or leg to lash out with, but she’d been right about his size being no match for her.
Tears leaked from her eyes as he leaned in close. He smelled of whiskey, tobacco and something else. Something foul and more than a little threatening.
Fear ricocheted through her body.
The man smiled maliciously, and she knew that he was getting off on terrorizing her. Was that what he was there for? To terrorize her? Assault her? Worse?
Her heart thudded so hard it felt like it was only seconds away from beating right out of her chest.
The man pressed himself against her, and her entire body shuddered.
His smile grew wider, sending her fear spiking. He brought his face within centimeters of hers. “Stop asking questions about your brother or you’ll end up just like him.”
He lifted his hand from her mouth, but her scream was cut off by his fist connecting with the side of her temple.
She was only vaguely aware of his weight lifting off her before she was plunged into darkness.