Unpredictable Webs: Book 4 of the Webs Series - Hardcover

Quinn, Darlene

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1608324249 ISBN 13: 9781608324248

Verlag: GREENLEAF BOOK GROUP LLC, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Betrayal, rebellion, jealousy, and a kidnapping gone awry are at the core of this fourth novel in Darlene Quinn&;s ensnaring series 

?Marnie Taylor, a twin who was abducted the day she was born and reunited with her family eight years later, is now about to turn sixteen. She is rebellious&;fighting often with her mother, Ashleigh&;and jealous of her more even-tempered and popular twin sister, Callie. Lonely, Marnie finds a compassionate listener in Brad, whom she meets online. Spinning a web of lies to throw her parents off, Marnie arranges an in-person meet-up with Brad. But she realizes too late that she has been targeted in a sinister scheme for ransom.  

Quinn&;s vivid cast of characters returns in this high-tension, stand-alone sequel. Though their actions are plausible, none of them behaves as others might predict in this tale that discloses the darker behaviors people are capable of. Cougar Viviana De Mornay takes Chicago&;s fashion world and &;Italian Stallion&; Gino Cabello by storm. Tony Wainwright, who has paid his dues for a past crime and appears to have turned his life around, is catapulted to the top of the list of suspects. PI Ross Pocino is on the scene with his surprising insights into criminal behavior, and Paige Toddman&;s mother, Helen, seems to grow younger every day. While some mothers can unintentionally do unspeakable harm to their children, Ashleigh&;s steel-magnolia efforts to wrest her daughter from her captor redeem the sacredness of that role.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Darlene Quinn, an international award-winning author and speaker, was a member of the management team for the Bullocks Wilshire specialty department store during a period of dynamic upheaval. Along with page-turning suspense, readers are given an insider&;s perspective on the world of fashion and retail across the nation.

Webs of Power and Twisted Webs both won the National Indie Excellence Award for General Fiction and were finalists in the USA National Best Book Award for General Fiction. Twisted Webs was also the winner of the 2011 International Book Awards for fiction and literature. Webs of Fate was the 2011 winner of the Readers Favorite Award in the general fiction category.

Darlene lives in Long Beach, California, with her husband, Jack.

 

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UNPREDICTABLE WEBS

A NOVEL

By Darlene Quinn

Greenleaf Book Group Press

Copyright © 2013 Darlene Quinn
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60832-424-8

Contents

......

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Halting midstride, Marnie whirled around, defiance flashing in her deepbrown eyes as well as the biting set of her jaw.

Caught in her daughter's cold glare, Ashleigh Taylor found herselftemporarily speechless. When did this precious child become so hostile?she thought. It's all my fault. She had hundreds of questions that neededto be answered, but every one of them stuck in her throat.

"I don't belong here. I never have." Marnie's words split the silence ofthe room. But in the next instant, her gaze dropped to the kitchen floor,and her voice fell to a level barely above a whisper. "I want to live withmy mother."

I am your mother! Ashleigh wanted to scream, but she never would.The last thing she wanted to do was to put her angry young daughter onthe defensive. Unbidden, the name she dared not speak aloud thunderedthrough her head and hammered in her heart: Cassie. Oh, my Cassie.

Taking a restorative breath, Ashleigh willed herself not to slip back intime. If she allowed what-ifs or should haves to cloud her mind, she'd beimmobilized. She had no power to rewrite the past. What had been donecould not be undone.

Nearly sixteen years earlier, on the day Ashleigh had given birth toperfect twin daughters, Cassie had been abducted from the cradle besideAshleigh's bed. That heinous crime had trapped two utterly differentfamilies in a heartbreaking tangle of secrets and lies for eight long years.

For those critical years, Erica Christonelli, the wife of Cassie'sabductor, was the only mother her Cassie had known. How much easierit might have been if Ashleigh could have despised the woman. But Ericawas no less a victim than she and her husband had been. Unaware thatthe baby she was raising as her own was Callie's kidnapped twin sister,Erica had named her child Marnie.

Ashleigh had never deluded herself with thoughts that the road tomaking her family whole again would be an easy one. There was boundto be a multitude of treacherous bumps along the path she'd chosen.Yet she never dreamed how difficult it would be to stay that course.Unwilling to deny her daughter time with the "mother" she had knownsince birth, Ashleigh had turned a blind eye to the obstacles and insteadlooked into her heart, drawing upon the old African proverb, It takes avillage to raise a child. In time she had worn down Conrad's resistance.He'd come to terms with what was best for their daughter. They hadagreed to make Erica a member of their extended family. But their"family village" was filled with so many pitfalls, so many side roads, somany voices. Far too many voices.

Ashleigh looked past the hard set of her daughter's jaw to her pain-filled eyes and quickly closed the distance between them. "Marnie. I loveyou with all my heart," she said softly. "If you don't belong here, thenneither do I." She reached out to brush the loose hairs from Marnie'scheek.

Marnie stepped back. "That's a lie. I hate it when you say things youdon't mean. I know you wish I'd never been born." Dissolving into tears,she averted her eyes, jammed her arms into the sleeves of her parka, andbolted for the kitchen door.

CHAPTER 2

From the pantry, Elizabeth heard every word of the exchange betweenAshleigh and her rebellious daughter. Momentarily frozen in place, hermind quickly raced through the options. Ashleigh doesn't deserve this.She's a wonderful mother. She tries so hard to be fair and do what'sright, not only for the twins and Juliana but for everyone.

Over the years, Elizabeth had become more like a member of thefamily than part of their household staff. She had grown to love and carefor the entire Taylor family as she had for Ashleigh's beloved grandfather.Right or wrong, she could no longer remain silent. "Marnie," she calledout, moving swiftly toward the door.

Ashleigh, just a few steps behind Elizabeth, reached it first and placedher hand over Marnie's on the doorknob. "Don't open that door," shewarned. Her words came out sharper than she'd intended. Well, maybenot. After all, she could not keep tiptoeing around. Marnie was in needof a firm hand.

"What is this?" Marnie spun around, her gaze shifting from Elizabethto Ashleigh. "Am I under house arrest?"

In the thundering silence, Elizabeth glanced from Ashleigh's troubledexpression to Marnie's stormy defiance. If only she could shake somesense into the young rebel. If only she could find a way to help Marniedrink in all the love that surrounded her.

"Marnie," Ashleigh began, "it's sixteen degrees outdoors. Even if wedidn't have a lot to discuss, you aren't entirely dressed for this weather."She looked down at Marnie's bootless feet.

"Whatever," Marnie sighed. "I'm sorry." Not meeting Ashleigh'seyes, she added, "I should just totally keep my mouth shut."

Before Ashleigh could respond, the kitchen door burst open. Julianacalled out, "We finished our choreography and we're ready—"

As she slid to a stop in her soft-soled jazz shoes, her eyes flashed fromher mother to Elizabeth before resting on Marnie. "Oops," said Juliana."Guess this isn't such a good time."

Torn between her unusually perceptive eleven-year-old's excitement andMarnie's pain, Ashleigh glanced up at the wall clock. Quarter to ten. "Howabout we come upstairs to see your duet at ten thirty? That will give—"

"Can't we go up to the studio now?" Marnie pleaded, her face suddenlybrightening. "I want to see how much of my part had to be changed."

Ashleigh glanced across the room to Elizabeth for a fraction of asecond, but she did not hesitate in making up her mind. Looking straightinto Marnie's damp eyes, which now seemed to sparkle in anticipation,she said, "Sure, we'll check out the new rendition of your duet. Then weneed to talk."

Marnie nodded and took off toward the broad staircase in the foyer.

As they headed toward the dance studio, Ashleigh's mind reeled.Marnie's sudden mood swings were nothing new, and yet they neverfailed to astound her. Since Marnie's recent return from spending thelast few days of Christmas vacation with Erica and her brother-in-law,Mike Christonelli, Ashleigh felt as if she were tiptoeing though a fieldof hand-blown glass baubles. As if the emotional turmoil that visit hadstirred in the teenager weren't enough, Ashleigh realized that Marnie'sbeing eliminated from the upcoming dance competition and forced to giveup practice for the past few weeks—to give her twisted ankle time torepair—had taken their toll. And now that Marnie was walking withouta limp, she resisted following through with the strengthening exercises sheneeded to avoid further injury to her ankle. Ashleigh knew the additionalblow of handing over her role in the duet with Callie to her younger sisterhad to be far more devastating than Marnie was letting on.

"Okay, Midget," Marnie teased as she followed Juliana to the dancestudio on the top floor of the family's suburban home. "Let's see howmany of my pirouettes you had to take out."

"Only two," Callie called out from the top of the stairs. "She's takenon the challenge like a champ."

Once Juliana had assumed her place on the dance floor, Callie pressedplay on the CD player and the two girls fell into their opening pose. Forthe duet competition, the twins had adapted...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: GREENLEAF BOOK GROUP LLC
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1608324249
• ISBN 13: 9781608324248
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 447
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar