Prologue

Ella

Her arms were in agony, stretched too far by the ties that secured her to the structural pole in the barn.

Ella had failed, she knew.

And her time was coming.

Time, pain, and despair filled her. She should have died long ago; there was no hope for her. And she knew . . .

She heard screams, horrendous screams of terror. The outer door burst open, and the dim light provided by the night skies lit up the darkness.

She knew . . .

Her time was up. The next year’s victim was being brought in. Maybe she would be the one to break the pattern, to be someone to win . . . something. Freedom.

Or, at the very least, life.

The new girl continued to fight and scream, until their oppressor pressed the tip of his knife to her throat and warned, “Stop now! Or you’ll bleed to death before you ever get your chance to live!”

Chance to live . . . and all the torture and brutality that came with it!

Maybe, Ella thought she should be glad. Glad it might finally be coming to an end. She had gone through weeks where she’d barely eaten, when she’d wondered if an infection might set into her wounds, if she might just die . . .

But she didn’t die.

And now she would.

That was true, so very true.

And the man who had kidnapped her and kidnapped and murdered the ones who had come before her . . .

Who would murder her soon as the clock struck midnight for the year’s end . . .

Started to laugh.

“New Years! Firecrackers! The great ball dropping in Times Square! Celebrations across the world! Oh, yeah. Year’s end, out with the old, and in with the new!”

He stared straight at Ella.

“Oh, yeah! Out with the old, and in with the new!”