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| Everlasting Love |
July, 1998 Kensington Books/Pinnacle Arabesque Line ISBN: 0-7860-0533-5 |
 The freeway into Chicago was slick with rain, and Whitney Jordan gripped the steering wheel in terror. Two years before, a freak accident had taken the life of her small stepson--and had ended the life she and her husband Javar had so recently begun. Now, returning to Chicago after two years to end her sham of a marriage, Whitney gets into another car accident. She awakes to find her husband at her side: he wants to save their marriage. But the nightmare of the past isn't over--not while someone with a lethal agenda is determined to make sure that this time their marriage will die along with Whitney... |
Prologue
Rain, heavy and menacing, fell in large droplets on the windshield of her late model, royal blue Chevrolet Cavalier. Her hands clenched on the steering wheel as she maneuvered the car, Whitney Jordan worried her bottom lip. Filling her lungs to their full capacity--to the point where it hurt--did nothing to calm her frantic nerves. If she had known it was going to rain when she left her mother's, she would have delayed this trip.
It was always worse when it rained--the images, the memories. When it rained, she didn't even have to close her eyes in order for the terrifying memories to surge forth. And they were there now, in the forefront of her mind, as strong and as real as the night it had happened.
She could still see the bright lights coming toward her, feel the blood freeze in her veins as icy fear enveloped her body. She could still hear the horrifying crunch of metal and the ominous crack of the windshield.
But the sound she could never forget was little J.J.'s scream. The shrill, terrified sound. And she could never forget the sight of his twisted, bloodied, motionless body on the ground.
The horrifying sight of J.J.'s body zapped into her mind with such velocity that Whitney's jittery hands caused the car to swerve into the oncoming lane.
Gasping, she righted the car, then inhaled a deep, steadying breath. She held back her tears, tears that always accompanied the memories. Everything for her had changed after the accident, and her life would never be the same. She had come out of the accident with her life, but she had lost everything else that mattered.
And now, she was returning to the place where it had all happened. The place where one tragic event had shattered her entire existence. Perhaps that was why the pain and the memories seemed so much stronger now.
Whitney sucked in sharp breath and let it out slowly, willing herself to forget. She would get through this. She had to. Once she had accomplished her task, she could leave Chicago and get on with her life.
Without Javar. A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she thought of Javar, as she thought of how she would now be closing the door on their life together forever. It wasn't something she wanted to do, but her husband had given her no choice. Some marriages just couldn't survive the challenges thrown at them. Theirs was one of those marriages.
And after an almost two year separation, it was time to officially end their marriage and get on with their lives.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, Whitney noticed a set of headlights in the distance behind her. Her eyes darted to the road, then back to the rearview mirror. The lights were getting closer as the car gained on her, clearly speeding despite the road conditions. As the car neared her bumper, its driver flicked on the high beams, nearly blinding her. Whitney squinted, trying to lessen the effect of the offending bright lights.
"Okay, okay," she muttered. The car was right on her tail now, doing sixty miles an hour. Mumbling a ladylike oath, Whitney hit her indicator, signaling her intention to enter the right lane. But as she steered her car to the right, she noticed that the car behind her was swerving into the right lane as well.
"Impatient," she grumbled, directing her car back into the left lane to let the restless driver pass her.
But before she could completely cross over the line, she felt and heard the impact of metal against metal as the car behind her crashed into her car. That was all it took to send Whitney's car sliding on the rain-slicked roads, straight into the path of oncoming traffic.
Her heart thundering in her chest, Whitney's mind screamed, It's happening again! Panicked, and desperate to avoid a head-on collision, she turned the steering wheel to the right. But it was too sharp a turn, because the car began to spin violently, heading toward the shoulder of the road and the large oak tree that loomed before her.
Throwing her arms to her face when she realized there was nothing else she could do, Whitney Jordan screamed as the passenger's side of her car collided with the tree trunk.
The next moment, darkness overcame her.
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