Tormenting Lila

By Sarah Alderson

When Lila and Alex sneak off for a romantic weekend away, Lila's hoping she'll finally have a chance to work on Alex's resolve.

But just as things start heating up news reaches them of a serial killer at loose on the island and it isn't long before their intimate weekend away is interrupted.

A mind reader, a projector, a protective older brother and a serial killer. Which one is going to find Lila first?

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Set 8 weeks after the end of Losing Lila, this story will delight fans of Hunting Lila while introducing them to the characters and stunning location from Sarah's next book The Sound(published August 1st, 2013).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Jul 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781471119576

Sarah Alderson

Sarah Alderson is a London-born, LA-based writer whose previous books include Friends Like These (Mulholland), In Her Eyes (Mulholland), The Weekend Away (HarperCollins) and The Stalker (HarperCollins). Sarah is also a screenwriter; her adaptation of The Weekend Away will soon be streaming on Netflix. You can follow @sarahalderson on Twitter and @sarahaldersonauthor on Instagram.

Book preview

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

Simon and Schuster UK Ltd

A CBS COMPANY

Copyright © Sarah Alderson 2013

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

No reproduction without permission.

All rights reserved.

The right of Sarah Alderson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

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London

WC1X 8HB

Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney

Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

eBook ISBN 978-1-47111-957-6

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

www.simonandschuster.co.uk

www.simonandschuster.com.au

CONTENTS

Tormenting Lila

Three days later

Meet Ren, Tyler, Parker and Jesse this summer in The Sound, out August 1st.

Prologue

1

My eyes flew open.

Alex’s lips stilled instantly against my neck. ‘What?’ he murmured, his hand reaching automatically for his gun, which was lying on the nightstand.

I shook my head. ‘Nothing,’ I said, forcing myself to smile at him, all the while trying to throw off a gnawing sense of disquiet.

Alex paused for a moment, studying me. I turned away from his scrutinizing gaze and focused on the semi-automatic he was gripping in his hand. With a quick flick of my eyes the gun went skidding out of his palm and tumbled into the drawer of the nightstand. I slammed it shut and turned my attention back to Alex.

He raised an eyebrow at me, his blue eyes sparking in amusement.

I had tried arguing with Alex about the need to carry a gun. We were no longer being hunted by the Unit after all, and he was no longer a Marine employed by said Unit to hunt people like me down and contain them. Therefore, my reasoning went, a gun was no longer a necessary part of our lives. But old habits died hard. And Alex refused to be parted from it. He kept it on him night and day, and I’d caught him several times lovingly oiling the parts and checking the firing mechanism when he thought I wasn’t looking.

It had reached the point where I was seriously starting to envy the gun.

Although Alex hadn’t said anything I was beginning to wonder if his keeping the gun to hand was less out of habit and more about something else. The thing was, I didn’t want to contemplate what the something else could be. The Unit was out of action as far as I was concerned. Richard Stirling, the man behind it, was missing, hopefully blown to smithereens along with all his research. His daughter was behind bars – something which made me smile from ear to ear and do a little happy dance every time I thought about it. The world was full of rainbows and unicorns and Alex loved me. Why focus on the negative?

Alex’s gaze fell to my lips. I cut

Reviews for Tormenting Lila

[myntop · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love the Lila books, and I was so excited to find out that there was another short. I loved this book, showing some private moments between Alex and Lila, showing Jack's ever-present overprotectiveness in regards to Lila, and also showing a bit more of a possibility of romance between Jack and Amber. I love the characters and the world that Alderson has written. What a lovely surprise to find at the end that this story ties in with her new book "The Sound!" I will definitely have to add that to my "to read" list now!