Already chosen, p.1
Already Chosen, page 1
A L R E A D Y
C H O S E N
(A Laura Frost Suspense Thriller —Book Seven)
B L A K E P I E R C E
Blake Pierce
Blake Pierce is the USA Today bestselling author of the RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seventeen books. Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising fourteen books; of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising six books; of the KERI LOCKE mystery series, comprising five books; of the MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE mystery series, comprising six books; of the KATE WISE mystery series, comprising seven books; of the CHLOE FINE psychological suspense mystery, comprising six books; of the JESSE HUNT psychological suspense thriller series, comprising twenty four books; of the AU PAIR psychological suspense thriller series, comprising three books; of the ZOE PRIME mystery series, comprising six books; of the ADELE SHARP mystery series, comprising fifteen books, of the EUROPEAN VOYAGE cozy mystery series, comprising four books; of the new LAURA FROST FBI suspense thriller, comprising nine books (and counting); of the new ELLA DARK FBI suspense thriller, comprising eleven books (and counting); of the A YEAR IN EUROPE cozy mystery series, comprising nine books, of the AVA GOLD mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the RACHEL GIFT mystery series, comprising eight books (and counting); of the VALERIE LAW mystery series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the PAIGE KING mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MAY MOORE mystery series, comprising six books (and counting); and the CORA SHIELDS mystery series, comprising three books (and counting).
An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.
Copyright © 2022 by Blake Pierce. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright fran_kie, used under license from Shutterstock.com.
BOOKS BY BLAKE PIERCE
CORA SHIELDS MYSTERY SERIES
UNDONE (Book #1)
UNWANTED (Book #2)
UNHINGED (Book #3)
MAY MOORE SUSPENSE THRILLER
NEVER RUN (Book #1)
NEVER TELL (Book #2)
NEVER LIVE (Book #3)
NEVER HIDE (Book #4)
NEVER FORGIVE (Book #5)
NEVER AGAIN (Book #6)
PAIGE KING MYSTERY SERIES
THE GIRL HE PINED (Book #1)
THE GIRL HE CHOSE (Book #2)
THE GIRL HE TOOK (Book #3)
THE GIRL HE WISHED (Book #4)
THE GIRL HE CROWNED (Book #5)
THE GIRL HE WATCHED (Book #6)
VALERIE LAW MYSTERY SERIES
NO MERCY (Book #1)
NO PITY (Book #2)
NO FEAR (Book #3)
NO SLEEP (Book #4)
NO QUARTER (Book #5)
NO CHANCE (Book #6)
NO REFUGE (Book #7)
NO GRACE (Book #8)
NO ESCAPE (Book #9)
RACHEL GIFT MYSTERY SERIES
HER LAST WISH (Book #1)
HER LAST CHANCE (Book #2)
HER LAST HOPE (Book #3)
HER LAST FEAR (Book #4)
HER LAST CHOICE (Book #5)
HER LAST BREATH (Book #6)
HER LAST MISTAKE (Book #7)
HER LAST DESIRE (Book #8)
AVA GOLD MYSTERY SERIES
CITY OF PREY (Book #1)
CITY OF FEAR (Book #2)
CITY OF BONES (Book #3)
CITY OF GHOSTS (Book #4)
CITY OF DEATH (Book #5)
CITY OF VICE (Book #6)
A YEAR IN EUROPE
A MURDER IN PARIS (Book #1)
DEATH IN FLORENCE (Book #2)
VENGEANCE IN VIENNA (Book #3)
A FATALITY IN SPAIN (Book #4)
ELLA DARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
GIRL, ALONE (Book #1)
GIRL, TAKEN (Book #2)
GIRL, HUNTED (Book #3)
GIRL, SILENCED (Book #4)
GIRL, VANISHED (Book 5)
GIRL ERASED (Book #6)
GIRL, FORSAKEN (Book #7)
GIRL, TRAPPED (Book #8)
GIRL, EXPENDABLE (Book #9)
GIRL, ESCAPED (Book #10)
GIRL, HIS (Book #11)
LAURA FROST FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER
ALREADY GONE (Book #1)
ALREADY SEEN (Book #2)
ALREADY TRAPPED (Book #3)
ALREADY MISSING (Book #4)
ALREADY DEAD (Book #5)
ALREADY TAKEN (Book #6)
ALREADY CHOSEN (Book #7)
ALREADY LOST (Book #8)
ALREADY HIS (Book #9)
EUROPEAN VOYAGE COZY MYSTERY SERIES
MURDER (AND BAKLAVA) (Book #1)
DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) (Book #2)
CRIME (AND LAGER) (Book #3)
MISFORTUNE (AND GOUDA) (Book #4)
CALAMITY (AND A DANISH) (Book #5)
MAYHEM (AND HERRING) (Book #6)
ADELE SHARP MYSTERY SERIES
LEFT TO DIE (Book #1)
LEFT TO RUN (Book #2)
LEFT TO HIDE (Book #3)
LEFT TO KILL (Book #4)
LEFT TO MURDER (Book #5)
LEFT TO ENVY (Book #6)
LEFT TO LAPSE (Book #7)
LEFT TO VANISH (Book #8)
LEFT TO HUNT (Book #9)
LEFT TO FEAR (Book #10)
LEFT TO PREY (Book #11)
LEFT TO LURE (Book #12)
LEFT TO CRAVE (Book #13)
LEFT TO LOATHE (Book #14)
LEFT TO HARM (Book #15)
THE AU PAIR SERIES
ALMOST GONE (Book#1)
ALMOST LOST (Book #2)
ALMOST DEAD (Book #3)
ZOE PRIME MYSTERY SERIES
FACE OF DEATH (Book#1)
FACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
FACE OF FEAR (Book #3)
FACE OF MADNESS (Book #4)
FACE OF FURY (Book #5)
FACE OF DARKNESS (Book #6)
A JESSIE HUNT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
THE PERFECT WIFE (Book #1)
THE PERFECT BLOCK (Book #2)
THE PERFECT HOUSE (Book #3)
THE PERFECT SMILE (Book #4)
THE PERFECT LIE (Book #5)
THE PERFECT LOOK (Book #6)
THE PERFECT AFFAIR (Book #7)
THE PERFECT ALIBI (Book #8)
THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (Book #9)
THE PERFECT DISGUISE (Book #10)
THE PERFECT SECRET (Book #11)
THE PERFECT FAÇADE (Book #12)
THE PERFECT IMPRESSION (Book #13)
THE PERFECT DECEIT (Book #14)
THE PERFECT MISTRESS (Book #15)
THE PERFECT IMAGE (Book #16)
THE PERFECT VEIL (Book #17)
THE PERFECT INDISCRETION (Book #18)
THE PERFECT RUMOR (Book #19)
THE PERFECT COUPLE (Book #20)
THE PERFECT MURDER (Book #21)
THE PERFECT HUSBAND (Book #22)
THE PERFECT SCANDAL (Book #23)
THE PERFECT MASK (Book #24)
CHLOE FINE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE SERIES
NEXT DOOR (Book #1)
A NEIGHBOR’S LIE (Book #2)
CUL DE SAC (Book #3)
SILENT NEIGHBOR (Book #4)
HOMECOMING (Book #5)
TINTED WINDOWS (Book #6)
KATE WISE MYSTERY SERIES
IF SHE KNEW (Book #1)
IF SHE SAW (Book #2)
IF SHE RAN (Book #3)
IF SHE HID (Book #4)
IF SHE FLED (Book #5)
IF SHE FEARED (Book #6)
IF SHE HEARD (Book #7)
THE MAKING OF RILEY PAIGE SERIES
WATCHING (Book #1)
WAITING (Book #2)
LURING (Book #3)
TAKING (Book #4)
STALKING (Book #5)
KILLING (Book #6)
RILEY PAIGE MYSTERY SERIES
ONCE GONE (Book #1)
ONCE TAKEN (Book #2)
ONCE CRAVED (Book #3)
ONCE LURED (Book #4)
ONCE HUNTED (Book #5)
ONCE PINED (Book #6)
ONCE FORSAKEN (Book #7)
ONCE COLD (Book #8)
ONCE STALKED (Book #9)
ONCE LOST (Book #10)
ONCE BURIED (Book #11)
ONCE BOUND (Book #12)
ONCE TRAPPED (Book #13)
ONCE DORMANT (Book #14)
ONCE SHUNNED (Book #15)
ONCE MISSED (Book #16)
ONCE CHOSEN (Book #17)
MACKENZIE WHITE MYSTERY SERIES
BEFORE HE KILLS (Book #1)
BEFORE HE SEES (Book #2)
BEFORE HE COVETS (Book #3)
BEFORE HE TAKES (Book #4)
BEFORE HE NEEDS (Book #5)
BEFORE HE FEELS (Book #6)
BEFORE HE SINS (Book #7)
BEFORE HE HUNTS (Book #8)
BEFORE HE PREYS (Book #9)
BEFORE HE LONGS (Book #10)
BEFORE HE LAPSES (Book #11)
BEFORE HE ENVIES (Book #12)
BEFORE HE STALKS (Book #13)
BEFORE HE HARMS (Book #14)
AVERY BLACK MYSTERY SERIES
CAUSE TO KILL (Book #1)
CAUSE TO RUN (Book #2)
CAUSE TO HIDE (Book #3)
CAUSE TO FEAR (Book #4)
CAUSE TO SAVE (Book #5)
CAUSE TO DREAD (Book #6)
KERI LOCKE MYSTERY SERIES
A TRACE OF DEATH (Book #1)
A TRACE OF MURDER (Book #2)
A TRACE OF VICE (Book #3)
A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4)
A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER ONE
“I can’t believe you would do this to me,” Isabella said, or rather screeched, stumbling a few steps away from Harry and shaking her head in open disbelief.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Harry scoffed. He looked annoyed. Like he was close to being done with her. That alone made her all the angrier. How dare he look like that when she was the one who had been wronged?
“I saw you,” she insisted, swinging her arms wide. The weight of her purse made it swing out on the thin bejeweled strap, almost setting her off-balance, even though the only things in it were her ID and her cell phone. “You were making eyes at her. And you said something to her when she gave you the drink!”
“Yeah, I said thanks,” Harry scowled, rushing towards her with an outstretched arm to guide her away from the road. “Like, thank you for the drinks? I was just being polite.”
“You’re never polite to bartenders,” Isabella threw back, nearly tottering over on her heels as she lunged away in the opposite direction from his arm. She almost collided with the wall of the next building, saving herself just in time only by crossing her legs at an awkward angle.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Harry fumed, that word again. “Come on. Just – look, you’re too drunk for this. I’m too drunk for this. Let’s just go home.”
“No way!” Isabella exclaimed. She had planned to go home with him tonight, but there was no chance now. Not now that she knew he’d been flirting with someone else. Maybe it was over between them. She’d figure that out once she had a chance to sit down. And pee. She needed to pee.
But she needed to get away from him even more.
“Well, what are you going to do, then? Walk around the streets all night?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Harry,” Isabella said, far too pleased with herself for coming up with the retort and dimly aware in the back of her mind that her voice had sounded far more slurred than his. “I’m going home. Just not with you.”
“Fine,” Harry sighed, scratching the back of his head and shoving his hands in his pockets. It was a cold night, still winter and without a cloud above to trap some heat, but Isabella didn’t feel cold yet. She still had the alcohol in her system, and the fire of rage to keep her warm. “I’ll walk you back, then.”
“No!” Isabella shouted, pushing him away with a desperate flail when he tried to come closer. “I don’t need your help. I’m going home on my own. You do whatever you want, just not anywhere near me.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Harry said, shaking his head. “You know that. You can’t walk alone here at night. You do need me. Or at least let me get you a taxi.”
“So I can owe you the fare?” Isabella shook her head angrily. When he tried to come towards her again she swung her purse in a vicious arc, and he stumbled back, almost tripping on an empty glass bottle that rattled noisily along the sidewalk.
He was distracted; she took that chance to start walking away a bit faster.
It wasn’t so easy with her heels, especially at speed. She just kept putting one leg in front of the other, and every time she thought she was going to fall forwards, she put the next leg in front and somehow managed not to fall. She thought she’d heard Harry behind her at one moment and then the sound of him being sick, and she turned down an alleyway on her right as soon as she did, thinking he would look up and not know where she’d gone.
She almost chuckled out loud at the idea of his face. Magic Isabella, disappearing right in front of his eyes!
But she didn’t, because she was being quiet, because she had to get away without him knowing she was gone.
Isabella clopped through the alley in her heels, looking up ahead. It was a long alley, actually. She paused for a moment, her skin beginning to crawl. Even through the alcohol, she had this strange feeling that she wasn’t alone.
She turned and looked over her shoulder, wondering if Harry was following her.
There was no one there.
As she kept watching, Harry stumbled past the entrance of the alleyway without looking in, and then he was gone out of view. She stifled another chuckle, this one of victory. She’d done it. That idiot was probably giving up and going home, himself.
She swallowed, feeling the chill in the air a little more.
He was right about it not being entirely safe to walk home on her own.
But what was she going to do? Go back out to the brightly-lit street and call out for him to come and save her?
No, he’d flirted with someone else right in front of her. There was no way she could trust him now. She took a breath. She would carry on.
Isabella turned around quickly, and the rest of the alleyway was still empty, too.
She took one more deep breath and started to walk again, trying harder this time to keep her feet steady so she didn’t trip on any of the debris scattered around. It was mostly broken or empty bottles and other kinds of trash, probably left here by other people who used the alley as a shortcut from the bar.
She scanned the ground carefully but then ended up having to stop and lean on a stack of crates, thinking she was going to fall over because she was leaning further and further forward. The crates themselves wobbled dangerously under her weight, and she careened away from them, landing with her back against the opposite wall and still just about upright. Isabella slumped, letting the wall take her weight for a moment. Ugh. It was such a long walk home. Maybe she should have grabbed a taxi after all; but now she was halfway down the alley, and it seemed to make as much sense to keep going forward as to go back…
Isabella moved to push off the wall, but then froze.
There were two people on the ground in front of her, right on the other side of the crates, across the alley against the other wall.
Isabella swallowed. “S-sorry,” she stuttered out first, thinking she was intruding – it looked like the two of them were spooning each other, maybe to keep warm. They were probably homeless, she thought. There was barely any light in the alley except what came from the lights of the streets at either end, and Isabella strained her eyes in the darkness – but what was strange was, they hadn’t responded or reacted in any way to what she’d said.
She took a small step towards them, wondering if they needed anything. If they had even heard her. If they were asleep, she should just keep walking and get out of there instead of disturbing them. But if you were sleeping in an alley, wouldn’t you be so alert you’d wake at any sound…?
_preview.jpg)
