Fast-paced and brilliantly unpredictable, J.T. Ellison’s
Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. In the majestic cliff-top villa owned by the wealthy Compton family, up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends…and a host of dark secrets.
From the moment Claire sets foot on the island, something seems amiss. Skeletal remains have just been found. There are other, newer disturbances, too. Menacing texts. A ruined wedding dress. And one troubling shadow hanging over Claire’s otherwise blissful relationship—the strange mystery surrounding Jack’s first wife.
Then a raging storm descends, the power goes out—and the real terror begins…
1
Beginnings and Endings
She is going to die tonight.
The white dress, long and filmy, hampers her effort to run.
The hem catches on a branch; a large rend in the fabric slashes open, exposing
her leg. A deep cut blooms red along her thigh, and the blood runs down her
calf. Her hair has come loose from its braid, flies unbound behind her like
gossamer wings.
In her panic, she barely notices the pain.
The path ahead is marked by towering cypress and laurel,
verdant and lush. A gray stone waist-high wall is all that stands between her
and the cliffside. It is cool inside this miniature forest; the sky is blotted
out by the purple-throated wisteria that drapes across and between the trees.
Someone, years ago, built an archway along the arbor. The arch’s skeleton has
long since rotted away and the flowers droop into the path, clinging trails and
vines that brush against her head and shoulders. It should be beautiful;
instead it feels oppressive, as if the vines might animate, twist and curl
around her neck and strangle her to death.
She tries not to look down to the frothing water roiling
against the rocks at the cliff’s base. She thinks the ruins are to her right.
From what she remembers, they are between the church and the artists’ colony,
the four cottages cowering on the hillside, empty and waiting.
A horn shrieks, and she realizes the ferry is pulling away.
A crack of lightning, and she sees the silhouette of the captain in the
pilothouse, looking out to the turbulent seas ahead. A gamble that he makes it
before the storm is upon them.
Don’t panic. Don’t panic.
Where is the church?
There it is, a flash of white through the trees. The
stuccoed walls loom, the bell tower hidden behind the overgrown foliage. Now
the path is moving upward, the grade increasing. She feels it in her calves and
hopes again she is going the right way. The Villa is on the hill, on the northwest
promontory of the island. If she can reach its doors, she will be safe.
It is too quiet. There are no birds, no creatures, no
buzzing or cries, just her ragged, heavy breath and the scree shuffling
underfoot as she climbs. The furious roar of the water smashing its
frustration against the rocks rises from her left, echoing against the
cliffside.
The dogs begin to howl.
Climb. Climb. Keep going.
She must get to the Villa. There she can call for help. Lock
herself inside. Maybe find a weapon.
A branch snaps and she halts, breathless.
Someone is coming.
She startles like a deer, now heedless of the noise she’s
making. Fighting back a whimper of fear, she breaks free of the cloistered path
to see an old decrepit staircase cut into the stone. Careful, she must be
cautious, there are gaps where some steps are missing, and the rest are mossy
with disuse, but hurry, hurry. Get away.
She winds up the steps, clinging to the rock face, until she
bursts free into a sea of scrubby pines. Two sculptures, Janus twins, flank a
slate-dark path into a labyrinth of rhododendron and azalea.
This isn’t right. Where is she?
A hard breeze disrupts the trees around her, and a rumble of
thunder like a thousand drums rolls across her body. Lightning flashes and she
sees the Villa in the distance. So far away. On the other side of the
labyrinth. The other side of the hill.
She’s gone the wrong way.
A droplet of water hits her arm, then her forehead. Dread
bubbles through her.
She is too late. The storm is upon her.
The howls of the dogs draw closer. The wind whistles hard
and sharp, buffeting her against the stone wall. She can’t move, deep fear
cementing her feet. Rain makes the gauzy dress cling to the curves of her body,
and the blood on her thigh washes to the ground. None of it matters. She cannot
escape.
When he comes, at last, sauntering through the storm, the
barking beasts leaping and growling beside him, she is crying, clinging to the
wall, the lightning illuminating the ruins; the ancient stones and stark,
headless statues the only witness to her death.
She goes over the wall with a thunder-drowned scream, the
jagged rocks below her final companions.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J.T. Ellison writes standalone domestic noir and psychological thriller series, the latter starring Nashville Homicide Lt. Taylor Jackson and medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens, and pens the international thriller series “A Brit in the FBI” with #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter. Cohost of the Emmy Award-winning show, A Word on Words, Ellison lives in Nashville with her husband.
Excerpt tour:
Monday, February 15th: From the TBR Pile
Tuesday, February 16th: Kahakai Kitchen
Wednesday, February 17th: Seaside Book Nook
Thursday, February 18th: What is That Book About
Friday, February 19th: Pacific Northwest Bookworm
Monday, February 22nd: Helen’s Book Blog
Tuesday, February 23rd: Audio Killed the Bookmark
Wednesday, February 24th: Reading Reality
Thursday, February 25th: Palmer’s Page Turners
Friday, February 26th: Mrs. Mommy Booknerd
Monday, March 1st: Living My Best Book Life
Tuesday, March 2nd: Book Reviews and More by Kathy
Wednesday, March 3rd: Books & Bindings
Thursday, March 4th: Jathan & Heather
Friday, March 5th: Novel Gossip
Saturday, March 6th: Where the Reader Grows
Monday, March 8th: Art Books Coffee
Instagram tour:
Friday, March 5th: @novelgossip
Monday, March 8th: @bookish.sunrise
Tuesday, March 9th: @bryantparkbooks
Tuesday, March 9th: @lovelyplacebooks
Wednesday, March 10th: @the_boozy_baking_bibliophile
Thursday, March 11th: @always_reading
Thursday, March 11th: @workreadsleeprepeat
Friday, March 12th: @pages.and.plates
Saturday, March 13th: @hooked.by.books
Sunday, March 14th: @shobizreads
Monday, March 15th: @lifeinlit
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