Hello everyone! I am posting the first chapter of my next novel as a teaser. This book will be written along with Lights and The Game of Life once I am finished with Flames. I hope you decide to stick around!

-Saralee

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Cast:

Strawberry_Cream1928 as Hexana Saralee Ingle

bookwormSarah as Thing

RedReality as Rebecca Darkly

LiveLaughLoveLuna as Teresa Ingle

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Fifteen years ago...

Hexana Ingle sat impatiently in the hospital waiting room, her long, dark hair obscuring her face. She was dressed quite simply for the daughter of a billionaire- in jeans, a white top, and a black leather jacket.

"Miss Ingle?" A nurse approached her timidly.

"How is my father?" Hexana asked emotionlessly, barely lifting her head.

"He's...he's dying, Miss Ingle."

"Take me to him," Hexana nearly commanded with surprising composure. The nurse silently agreed, leading her down the whitewashed hallways of the hospital, past other visitors who didn't give her a second glance. They never would've guessed that they had just walked past a member of the wealthiest family in America.

The nurse stopped in front of a nondescript, numbered door, eager to get as far away from Hexana as possible. She didn't know what, but there was something about the girl's haughty airs and cold, unfeeling eyes that chilled her to the bone.

After ensuring that the nurse had turned the corner and was out of sight, Hexana hurried into her father's room, finding the founder of Ingle Tech lying motionlessly on a bed, thick gauze wrapped around the bullet hole in his stomach.

"Who was it?" Hexana snarled, instantly dropping her cool demeanor. "Who killed you?"

"Samantha..." Rodney Ingle croaked. "Samantha Brooks, the baby's mother."

"You managed to enter the house? Did your team get the baby?"

"We barely missed her," Rodney winced. "Brooks shot me before I could grab her kid."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Find the baby, and avenge me as you see fit. I want something horrific to happen to that child- something more awful than anything we have ever done."

"Like what?" Hexana asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"You have a good imagination," Rodney grinned, brushing back a stray strand of Hexana's hair with his finger. "And you'll have the company to help you."

"But I'm a minor, and Mark's not," Hexana exhaled sharply. "The company...the mansion...the yacht...the lakehouse...Everything will be his," she spat.

"Oh, Hexy," Rodney attempted to chuckle, although it came out like more of a wheezing gasp. "You're too smart to let a buffoon like Mark stop you. Dispose of him, and frame that Harrison guy if you can. I never liked him anyway."

"Sounds good, Dad," Hexana nodded. "I'll do it in a couple of days. I'm turning fourteen tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh, yes. Good girl, you remember the rules."

"No killing on your birthday," Rodney and Hexana said simultaneously.

"The most important thing I have to tell you has nothing to do with the baby or Project Thing," Rodney smiled weakly.

"What is it?"

"I must remind you of our most crucial rule. Never betray the family. Mom tried to betray the family, and I'm sure you remember what we did to her."

"Yes, Dad," Hexana put on a sardonic grin.

"I think-I'm," Rodney let out a hacking cough, clutching his stomach as he fell backwards, his eyes rolling back in his head.

"No!" Hexana screamed at the top of her lungs as doctors and nurses flooded into the room. "Save him! Please, one of you, save him! How much do you want? A million dollars? Five million? I'll give you anything!"

"We're so, so sorry," the nurse who had brought Hexana to her father placed a hand sympathetically on her shoulder. "Money can't wake the dead. Not even your family's money."

Hexana balled her hands up into fists as she fought back her tears.

No, Ingles don't cry.

We fight, and we win.

...................................

"It is truly a tragic time for the Ingle family. Months after the mysterious disappearance of Lucinda Ingle, billionaire Rodney Ingle was shot and killed by an unknown offender. Just two days after this, the Ingles' only son, Mark Ingle, was murdered by Ingle Tech executive Rick Harrison, though the motive is still unknown."

Samantha sighed, turning off the TV and shifting her weight on her old, dusty couch. There was no end to the drama when it came to the Ingles.

She made sure that she could see her daughter out of her peripheral vision, as she had been doing every five seconds since that creep had broken into her house and tried to kidnap little Annie. To her relief, the baby still lay on the blanket she had put out, cooing and rolling around happily.

But she had looked away too soon.

The lights flickered in Samantha's living room, before going out. Seconds later, she heard a high pitched wail and the scuffle of footsteps.

"Annie!" She shouted, reaching for her gun. But it wasn't where she had left it on the table beside her.

"Looking for this?" The lights came back on, revealing a girl who couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen years old. She smirked, pointing Samantha's own gun at her head.

Samantha blinked, unable to believe her eyes, but the face in front of her was unmistakable.

Hexana Saralee Ingle.

Glancing a few yards to the left, she noticed two masked men, one of whom was holding her baby.

"What's going on?" Samantha whispered, her heart palpitating at twice its normal speed. "What do you want with me?"

"Revenge," Hexana spat. "For shooting my father."

"The guy who broke into my house..." Samantha's breathing grew shallow as she made the connection. "That was Rodney Ingle? I murdered Rodney Ingle!? Oh, God..."

"That's right, you did," Hexana gritted her teeth. "Get the baby in the car," she called over her shoulder.

"No! Please!" Samantha begged. "Kill me if you want, but don't hurt Annie! I've never done anything to you, I was just trying to defend my baby! What do you even want with her?"

"Oh, Samantha," Hexana grinned. "Ingle Tech isn't an electronics company. That's just a facade- an outward show to avert suspicion. The real Ingle Tech is something much more sinister. Something from your nightmares. We need a baby for our next project, and your daughter just happens to be a perfect fit for our specifications."

"Whatever you're doing, I'm ninety percent sure it's illegal."

"We know. But we're very smart about it- the police will never get onto us. And, speaking of the police, they'll never get onto you either," she laughed as she pulled the trigger.