A gripping short psychological thriller from USA Today bestselling author Lucinda Berry about how our safest routines can become our deadliest traps.

Riley Fletcher’s morning run should have been ordinary—muscle memory, fresh air, home by breakfast. Instead, she wakes bound and bleeding in a lakeside cabin, her captor a ghost from her past: Dawson Miller, a former coworker with nothing left to lose.

Escape seems simple until her injuries leave her dependent on the very man who took her. As he tends her wounds with unsettling care, Riley realizes this isn’t random violence. Dawson has a plan—one that’s been carefully constructed, methodically prepared. And somehow, she’s essential to it.

Trapped and injured, Riley must find the strength to outwit her captor and unravel his twisted scheme before it’s too late. Because if she doesn’t stop him, no one will.

©2026 Lucinda Berry LLC. (P)2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved