LITMIR.BIZ

      PROLOGUE

      THE house was dark.

      Jake quickened his pace, tightening his grip on his case as he moved through the shadows. She should be home. It was too early to be asleep. An unusual time to be shopping. She wouldn’t be out on a Tuesday night…

      His heart hammered in his chest, drumming against his ribs, deafening his thoughts as he fumbled for the keys.

      He paused. Took a deep breath. Plucked the right key from the bunch and shoved it in the lock.

      Jake pushed open the door and felt the cold emptiness of the house envelop him. Fear gripped him. Where was she?

      He moved quickly through the house, flicking the switches, flooding the rooms with light. The place was neat, cool, tidy. He swiped a finger along the kitchen bench and examined the fine layer of dust on the tip of it. Jake shuddered.

      He yanked his mobile from his belt and punched Danny’s number. The painful knot of fear in the pit of his gut swelled with every ring.

      ‘You’re back,’ Danny said.

      ‘Where is she?’ His voice cracked.

      A pause. ‘I’ll come round.’ And Danny rang off.

      Jake dialled again, getting a message service. What the hell was going on? What couldn’t Dan tell him over the phone?

      He ran a hand through his hair. If something had happened to Meg, Danny could have rung him. He always had his mobile with him. Icy fingers squeezed his chest. Why the hell hadn’t Danny rung him?

      Jake clenched his fists by his sides. She was his life, his reason for being. What the hell had happened? He snatched the phone book up and slammed it onto the bench, rifled the pages for hospitals.

      ‘You won’t find her in there.’ Danny’s voice was slow and gentle.

      Jake swung around. Danny stood in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched, his face dour.

      ‘What is it? What’s happened to Meg? Where is she?’

      ‘She’s gone.’

      Gone. His legs shook under him and he sank into the nearest chair. ‘What do you mean gone? Gone where? How?’

      ‘She left you three weeks ago.’

      ‘What?’ His voice broke and he covered his mouth with his hand, rubbing his bristles. This couldn’t be happening. Not to them. Not to him. Not after all he knew. He was never going to muck up his life like his parents had.

      ‘She packed up and left you.’

      ‘I don’t understand.’ The words choked him. He did everything right, didn’t he? Sure, he was away a lot. He was working hard for the security of owning their own home. Which was more than his own father ever had…half-sloshed in the front lounge and out of work until he walked out the door one day and didn’t come back.

      Danny touched him on the shoulder. ‘She didn’t love you, mate, that’s all.’

      ‘That’s all?’ The words burst from his throat. How could it be? They were like music together. His loins heated at the memory of her.

      ‘You shouldn’t have swept her off her feet like that, so soon after her dad dying and all.’ Danny stalked to the door. ‘You didn’t deserve her.’

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