MADELEINE ABDUCTED (Estate Series – Book 1) By M.S. Willis This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Madeleine Abducted: Copyright © 2013 by M.S. Willis All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, scanned, distributed in any printed or electronic form or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. ISBN: 978-0-9894479-5-9 [email protected] www.facebook.com/mswillisbooks OTHER BOOKS BY M.S. WILLIS Control Series Book One – Control Book Two – Conflict Book Three – Conquer Coming in 2014 Because of Ellison Hope Restrained (Estate Series #2) Captured (Control #4) Changed (Control #5) Table of Contents PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Epilogue Madeleine Abducted is dedicated to the poor fool who currently occupies my old desk. Good luck to you. Prologue This is a story that is not meant for the faint of heart. If you are looking for inspiration, if you are looking for light, if you are looking for something that will help you sleep and dream, you’ve come to the wrong place. Within these pages you will find a tale typically left unsaid in polite society because of the formidable fear and striking sorrow its events evoke. It is a story about abduction, enslavement, and the moment when a life is delivered into darkness. There is no neat and tidy ending, no white knight that rides in and delivers freedom, nor salvation — there is no escape. Like life, stories don’t always end with elegant edges. A weak woman at one time, she fell victim to evil, disappeared on a fated night never to return to the world again … but not for the reasons you might think. Her name is Madeleine Clark, and when she was abducted, she was not only dragged into hell …. She took over. Chapter One Madeleine stared out over a sea of shadowed faces. From where she stood, the conversations between the audience members were nothing more than gentle murmurs adding white noise to the barely lit concert hall. Her stomach knotted as she paced the long white corridor between the stage and the rear practice room; her eyes flickered out through the small, square windows to the audience below. Other musicians passed her as they moved about, waiting to take their places on stage. Discordant sounds and brief glimpses of shuffling sheet music escaped the practice room door each time a musician passed through. Her head pounded and her chest constricted as she felt the time grow closer to her performance. Deep breaths, Maddy … you can do this …. Her long, black gown flowed around her feet like liquid onyx, shimmering in cadence with her steps, swallowing her small stature. She pulled at the high neckline and longed for the comfortable t-shirts she normally wore. The rhythmic click of her heels reminded her of a metronome keeping time with the beat of her heart. Her breath was irregular; her skin was sticky with nervous perspiration. Surprise overtook her when, suddenly, a friendly voice invaded her panic. “I should probably remove that bow from your hands before you snap it in two.” Jeremy’s mouth curved up into a genial grin, his warm brown eyes looked down on her with a glint of humor. She wrung her hands across the smooth wood of the bow; her fingers covered by rosin dust from the horsehair. Releasing her tight hold on the thin bow, she politely smiled in response to his jest. Jeremy reached down to take it from her hands and said, “Maddy, you’ll be extraordinary. You have nothing to worry about.” Continuing, he laughed. “You can’t hide behind the walls of a studio forever, people want to see you play.” That was the problem. Although Madeleine didn’t mind people hearing her music, but she did not like being seen; preferring instead the protection of her studio or home, where she could remain invisible to the eyes of the world. Her voice came out in a mousy whisper, fear evident in her tone, “But I’ll feel so naked … so exposed …. ” Her hands moved over themselves, the trapped blood looking pink within the pale white of her taut skin. Jeremy placed his hand over hers and said, “If I could remove your hands to protect them as well, I would.” Madeleine looked up into Jeremy’s face. He was a close friend, one of her only friends. He understood her introversion and didn’t hold her lack of social skills against her. If not for her need to remain emotionally distant, she may have considered Jeremy for more than friendship. He was handsome in the most classical sense of the term: dark chestnut brown hair; eyes a shade of warm mahogany; and she knew he was tall, but at 5'2", most people were tall compared to her. Jeremy’s body was long and lean, his upper body and arms toned from the decades he’d spent mastering the violin. Standing before her in a coattail tuxedo, he exuded masculine elegance and refinement. He was friendly to a fault, a person she could rely upon to understand her and guard her secrets. “Besides,” he said, beaming a grand smile, “you’ve played publicly before. This should be no different.” But it was different. Tonight was her first solo performance using her own music, not something from a popular composer. This music came from within her, revealing her innermost thoughts and desires in the form of melodies and sounds. If the audience could decipher the hidden meaning of those notes, they would discover the true person within her. “Yes,” she said, “but when I played before, I was unseen, buried within the orchestra.” She turned to look out over the audience and continued, “Tonight, I’ll be the focus. Tonight, there’s nowhere for me to hide.” His hand came up to softly brush along her cheek. He moved to stand next to her, his eyes also taking in the sea of people. “Nonsense, Maddy. With your size, that cello covers most of you,” he teased. “Or you could just close your eyes and hide within the music. It’s beautiful. It makes you beautiful. You should be proud, not shy.” The practice room door swung open as the stage director walked into the hallway, the light trill of a flute escaping as he passed through the door. “Fifteen more minutes before showtime,” he said. “I’ll need the two of you to return to the backroom. You’ll be going on stage last.” Jeremy nodded to the director before he reached down to gently take Maddy’s hand. She could feel his breath brush across her cheek as he leaned down to whisper, “When you take the stage, Maddy, just know that I am there