Chapter 1 - Nobody's ComingThe lights died at 5:08 a.m., one second after my husband promised nobody was coming to save me.

I was six months pregnant, sitting on our kitchen floor with one arm over my daughter and my phone hidden against my ribs. Trent towered over me with his father's walking stick. His mother stood behind him in a burgundy robe, telling him not to let me get away with disobedience.

"Get up," Trent said.

"I can't." My left ankle buckled when I tried. "Please, Trent. The baby."

"You should've thought of that before embarrassing me."

Across the island, Richard stirred his coffee. Nicole held up her phone, recording like she was filming a prank. The camera's tiny red dot looked more frightening than the stick.

Helen pointed a polished fingernail at me. "Teach her a lesson."

Trent lifted the stick. He didn't swing. He didn't have to. I knew what it could do to the kitchen cabinets. I knew what my fear did for him.

My phone was on the rug just beyond his shoe. I'd dropped it when he dragged me downstairs to make breakfast for four people who hated me. I edged toward it while he argued with his mother about whether I should be allowed to call my doctor.

One inch. Another.

The phone slid under my fingertips. I pressed the side button five times through the thin cotton of my nightgown.

A vibration. A silent screen glow. Emergency SOS.

I had arranged an emergency contact after my brother Alex noticed a bruise at Thanksgiving. Trent thought I'd deleted it. I hadn't.

"Alex," I whispered. "Please."

Trent saw the light. "Give me that."

I pulled the phone to my chest. He stepped forward. "Nobody's coming for you."

Then the overhead fixtures blinked, popped, and went black. The refrigerator stopped humming. Every warm light in the house vanished, leaving blue dawn at the windows.

Nicole gasped. Richard put down his cup. For once, Helen had nothing to say.

Three heavy knocks shook the front door.

"Emily!" a man's voice called.

I wanted to believe it was Alex. But the voice was deeper than my brother's, and Trent knew it too. He lowered the stick, stared into the hall, and whispered a name I had never heard before.

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"Mercer?"

The front door handle began to turn.