PreView [NOOK Book]

Something isn't right.

Ryann ground her forehead into her bent arm and leaned into the shower wall. The hot water beat down onto her back. Steam had built to such a level that she was barely able to see the various bottles of beauty products lining the stall. Taking a deep breath was out of the question; the air in the shower was too hot and thick. As much as she wanted to relax and purge her mind of the dream, whenever she closed her eyes it would replay, starting with the deep twisting in her gut.

Something isn't right.

Ryann's skin crawled. She focused on the scene, specifically the blond woman before her.

"Snap out of it, Victoria!" The man gripped Victoria's arms and gave her a sharp shake.

Victoria screamed furiously. He shoved her against the elevator doors. She struggled, then bent down and bit her attacker's hand. Although the need to take action was palpable, Ryann could only stand frozen as the scene unfolded before her eyes.

"Shit!" he hissed, releasing his hold on her to shake his hand in pain. He immediately reached for her again but stopped suddenly, as though he'd hit an invisible field.

Victoria's smile didn't reach her eyes. It was a mirthless curl of her lips, which turned into a dry laugh. But then… Oh God, no. A gun!

No time…there's no time.

Seconds later a shot rang out in the vacant hallway. It echoed off of every wall, shaking the panes of glass in the doorways.

"It was you all along." Wide-eyed and pale, Victoria stood stock-still for a heartbeat before falling back against the elevator doors, clutching her stomach. The doors opened, and she fell inside onto her back. Blood pooled beneath her immobile body.

The doors closed, bounced off of her legs, then opened again.

And again.

The vision was clear, down to the anger flashing in Victoria's blue eyes. Each detail of the scene was imprinted onto the reel that played repeatedly through her mind. It lasted sixty seconds at the most. Only when awake could she slow it down, like a movie in slow motion, to freeze each frame to study its details.

Ryann's nightly premonitions were nothing new, but they rarely bothered her to this extent. She ran the scrubbie over her body a second time to cleanse herself from the sweat that had coated her ten minutes ago, and the dirty feeling from witnessing a violent crime.

She took a shaky breath and shampooed her hair, determined to figure out what about this particular vision was different than all the others. As usual, the thoughts and spoken words she heard were all in her own voice, but this time they jumbled together with another's thoughts, as if the two fought over themselves to be heard. Ryann was always able to pick out whose head she was in, and it was always the main subject of the vision. Victoria, in this case.

The murder victim.

Whoever Victoria was, she wasn't anyone Ryann knew. This striking woman was polished, dressed in a dark blue skirt suit that probably sported a designer label. Her cream-colored shirt collar was folded over the lapels of her jacket. A thin golden rope lay against her collarbone, and princess-cut diamond earrings, which looked too heavy for her ears, sparkled in the fluorescent lighting. Her platinum-blond hair was tied into a knot at her nape. Not one strand fell free from the sleek bun, and the severity of the hairstyle only emphasized her tight expression. Her eyes were a pale shade of blue, so light the black pupils showed in stark contrast. Victoria glared at her unseen assailant.

Oh, God…no. A gun!