BREAKING STEELE (A Sarah Steele Thriller) Read Online Free PDF Page A

his voice before. As if it was a voice in a commercial or something. I couldn’t place it.
    I didn’t pull or struggle on my restraints. I wasn’t even sweating. My vision had cleared and I studied the ground. There was yellowed carpet glue in thin lines on the concrete floor. I saw green carpet lint littering the floor.
    I could feel the monster within me trying to get out. But I wouldn’t let it. Not yet, not again.
    “What are you going to do?” I asked in a dark voice. “Bribe me? Rough me up and threaten my family? Or whatever you saw in the latest show of Law & Order.”
    “No, miss,” the man said. I heard him take a step forward. “It’s not as if we could mess up your family any more than it already is. Your mother’s in jail for murdering your father.”
    No matter how many times I’d heard it, the fact still sent a searing pain through my chest. It hadn’t dulled over the years. He was right, the situation couldn’t get any worse. And he didn’t even know the half of it.
    I pushed back the pain and raised my chin. The light dried out my eyes, I squinted to see better.
    One of the men to the side shifted, and I could see his features through the dim light. He wore a smooth black suit and a red tie. He stood around six feet tall. He was well groomed, with a small goatee and trimmed black hair. First born and very type A. Not one wrinkle or piece of lint in sight.
    The man in charge spoke again. “I know that no matter what I say, you will go on your way and do your best to win your case. So I’m going to make you a promise.” With a click, the room went dark. My heart quickened. “If you don’t let this trial go, I promise Hank Williams will do to you exactly what he did to Tracy Mulligan.” My mouth went dry. “Except he’ll take much longer with you.”
    Bile rose in my throat, I swallowed it down. I needed to get out of here. Now. What did I have? My legs were free. As if a reflex took over, I got to my feet, bent in half from the chair. With a feral cry I charged the voice. The light clicked back on, blinding me. But I was moving too fast to be stopped. I lunged at the middle shadow.
    My head hit his chest and he caved, dropping to the floor. My weight knocked the wind out of him. I twisted in the chair, and the metal back socked him in the jaw. Moving again, I rolled to my knees—just as something hit my head.
    Before I lost consciousness I saw a face. A face that looked identical to Hank Williams.

Chapter 8
    MY HEAD FELT LIKE it was stuck under a truck tire. I rubbed my eyes and felt something sticky—blood. I looked around to find myself back in my apartment and in my own bed.
    I sat up—too fast. The room swam as I steadied myself, and then stumbled to the door. My apartment looked the same as I had left it. My purse was on the table and my phone and keys laid out neatly in front of it. I cursed.
    It was 8:13 at night, two hours after I’d left the courthouse. Which meant wherever they had taken me had to be close.
    I fumbled for my phone, hands shaking. There were six missed calls. One from Joshua, two from Dan, one from Angela, and two from my best friend, Mandy. The screen was still on my disconnected call to 9-1-1. I pushed redial.
    “9-1-1.What’s your emergency?” a male voice answered.
    “I’d like to report a kidnapping—” my voice broke as what had happened to me sunk in. Tears came to my eyes and my throat clenched. I swallowed down the rising panic attack.
    After giving him a few details in a hoarse voice, and getting a promise of a detective headed my way, I hung up.
    Glancing around the room, it seemed as if all my blinds were open. I rushed to each window, eyes wide in panic, yanking them shut. By the time each one was closed, tears poured down my face and I curled up in the corner and gave in to my grief.
    Sobs tore at my chest. This wasn’t just about the fear I felt clawing at me, it was about mourning the loss of my safety—the belief that nothing like