Guess what? A new book is coming!!!
Mouse Trap hits shelves on January 3rd! That’s just a few weeks away!
It’s my first novella, which is the perfect length for a weekend binge read. Scroll down to sample the first chapter.
I’ll also be posting a huge giveaway in a couple of days – subscribe to my newsletter to hear about it first!
MOUSE TRAP
Chapter One
A thin ray of light snuck between the heavy curtains in Lennox Scott’s living room. It slashed a line across the coffee table and crept up his armchair, petering out against the sunken hollow in his left cheek. He didn’t register the warmth. Not even the throbbing aches in his bones could pierce the veil of numbness that covered his body.
He blinked slowly at the television’s blank screen. Hadn’t it been on earlier? A dim memory of a documentary about the evolution of mobile gaming poked through the fog in his mind, but he couldn’t be sure when he’d watched it.
It had been several days since he’d last eaten. His stomach didn’t growl or grumble. Donut crumbs littered the floor. He thought about picking them up and decided against it. It was easier to simply sit, and besides, that was what his maid was for.
Gina. She would be here soon to clean the house. Sometime in the next few days, at least. If he could last until then, she would open the curtains and turn on the lights.
If he could last.
This wasn’t how he had pictured things ending. A lifetime in the same house, his biggest move the upgrade from his childhood bedroom to his parents’ former master suite. He remembered working toward an honors degree and a college scholarship, dreams of a career in electrical engineering.
Not this wasted life.
No, he told himself. It wasn’t wasted. The sacrifice had been worth it. It had always been worth it. He hadn’t known it then, hadn’t even known he was making it at all, but the darker things grew, the more clearly he could see the truth. And as the shadows became more than shadows, he finally heard her.
She was calling to him now. Her voice was young and sweet. It reminded him of Dakota. The voice promised she could bring them together, and he ached to see his sister.
The promise proved impossible to resist. Lennox couldn’t wait for the maid. He stirred, summoning what little energy he had remaining, and picked up the notebook that rested against his hip. The crackle of the pen across the paper startled him. It seemed so loud after so many days spent in silence. The words he’d been writing for weeks waited there. Only a few more needed to be added. When he was done, he tore the page out, folded it, and slipped it into an envelope. His dry tongue scraped against the flap.
It didn’t feel right sitting there. He stood, joints creaking, and dragged himself up the stairs and into his office. With a deep and shuddering groan, he sank into the high-backed chair at his desk. The green light on his computer faded in and out and in again, mirroring his shallow breaths. Getting here had exhausted him, but now things were as they should be.
Lennox placed the envelope beside his keyboard and frowned. The front was blank. It wouldn’t get where it needed to go like that. It needed an address. Hands shaking, he leaned forward and plucked a green pen out of the mug on his desk.
He never uncapped it. A final sigh escaped his lungs before he slumped out of his chair and onto the floor.
Pre-order MOUSE TRAP today: https://www.carynlarrinaga.com/mousetrap/