Will they finally put an end to his sadistic reign of terror?
Wild Women Authors focus
on Fatal Stand, a contemporary psychological thriller, written by Michelle
Godard-Richer, and recently released by the Wild Rose Press.
About Fatal
Stand: Two years earlier,
Jessica witnesses a serial killer, David, in action, and becomes his next
target. With help from Jon, a former FBI agent, she manages to survive his
murderous wrath and believes him dead.
On the day of their daughter’s birth, Jessica and Jon learn David is
alive and plans to come after them again. Running with a newborn daughter and a
nine-year-old son isn’t an option. Instead, they fortify their homestead with
high fences and a sophisticated security system, preparing to make a final
stand.
Despite being surrounded by allies, Jessica struggles to care for her
newborn under the strain of their living situation. Alone in the night, she
sees and hears things the cameras don’t capture. She questions her sanity but
refuses to break, determined to protect her family from the monster of her
nightmares—David.
David can’t forgive Jessica, and he can’t move on. Instead, time fuels his obsessive need for revenge. With a new identity and a surgically altered face, they’ll never see him coming.
An excerpt for Fatal Stand:
Later
that night, Jessica’s eyes flew open, struggling to adjust to the dark as the
hair prickled on the back of her neck. She scrambled out of bed and picked up
her phone from the nightstand. Three in the morning, and Cassie wasn’t making a
peep.
What
had woken her and set her on alert?
The
kids.
She
rushed into the hallway and pushed open Bryce’s door. His chest rose and fell
in sleep. Jessica stepped over the toy cars he’d left on his floor and peered
out his window. Hay stalks swayed in the field that was otherwise empty. No
creepy man. Maybe the memory of the last time Jon was away during the night had
weighed on her subconscious mind.
Jessica
left Bryce’s room, shutting the door behind her, and stepped across the hall.
The door stood open a crack from when Cassie had woken an hour earlier to feed.
She peered inside and smiled at the calm expression on her baby’s sleeping
face.
Satisfied
all was right with her world, Jessica went back to bed. With any luck, she’d
catch another few hours of sleep before Cassie woke again. She curled her arm
under her pillow and shut her eyes.
“Jessica,”
a male voice whispered.
She
leaped out of the bed and searched the dark corners of her room. Nothing.
“I see
you, Jessica.” The same spine-chilling whisper came from the baby monitor.
Her
ears rang and her pulse raced. Cassie! Jesus!
She
yanked open the drawer of her bedside table. Her clammy hand slipped on the
grip of her revolver. She wiped her hand on her pajama bottoms, picked up the
gun, and ran into the hallway.
With
her bare foot, she pushed open the nursery door, and with the gun poised to
shoot in front of her, she dashed inside. She swept the room fast, the way Jon
had taught her. No one. But she still needed to check the closet. Steeling
herself, she crossed the room. The closet door creaked as she tugged it open.
Nothing except Cassie’s baby clothes.
Bryce!
She
shut the door to the nursery, then swung open Bryce’s door, and charged inside,
gun at the ready. No one except Bryce, still fast asleep. Her foot landed on
one of his toy cars, the metal pressing into the sensitive skin covering the
ball of her foot. Resisting the urge to cry out, she swung open the closet. She
shifted his clothes around. Thankfully, no one hid behind them.
Jessica
took a deep breath to slow the tremors in her hands. The kids were safe. What
next?
She
stood in the hallway between the two rooms, heart in her throat, and forced her
brain to work. Two receivers came with the baby monitor. One sat on her bedside
table and the other was on the kitchen counter. That made sense for an intruder
because the back door was in the kitchen.
She
didn’t want to leave her children. But with no one in her room or the kids’
rooms, the intruder couldn’t be behind them. The only room between her and the
kitchen at the opposite end of the hallway was the main bathroom.
Jessica
could scream for Trent and Cynthia, but they were in the spare room on the
opposite side of the kitchen. Besides, if someone waited in the kitchen with
Trent and Cynthia unaware, they could walk into a trap.
With
the gun steady in her grip, Jessica scurried the few feet down the hallway to
the door of the bathroom. The door stood ajar. From the hallway, the shower
stall and toilet were visible in the mirror hanging over the vanity. Again, no
one.
Saliva
pooled in her mouth, and she swallowed it around a lump in her throat. Oh,
God. Now the kitchen.
She
plastered her back to the wall and sidestepped along the hallway toward the
kitchen. Luckily, the carpet muted the sounds of her movement. Steeling her
nerves for whatever was to come, she stepped around the corner with the
revolver raised.
The
kitchen was also unoccupied, and the baby monitor sat where she’d left it
beside the coffee maker. With the open floor plan, she could see into the
living and dining areas, and they were also clear. If the voice didn’t come
from either receiver or Cassie’s nursery, then where the heck had it come from?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218656396-fatal-stand
https://www.bookbub.com/books/fatal-stand-the-fatal-series-book-3-by-michelle-godard-richer
