Sleep With Fear

Chapter 1

Lara Bradford didn't notice the body at first. When she opened her eyes to see the morning sun pouring in from her bedroom window, her first thought was the massive headache it sent through her skull, and the empty wine glass still dangling from her fingers.

The heavy drapes couldn't hold back the brilliant light shining through the windows, a light that poured over the cityscape below. Looking out, she took a moment to admire the amazing view of Manhattan stretching beyond the glass, framing the vast green of Central Park. It cost a fortune to get a condominium anywhere on Park Avenue, let alone in the tallest residential building in the world, Fiero Heights. But Lara and her family could afford it, and the view was definitely worth it.

Lara's husband Cole was one of the richest men in the world. Cole had become a wealthy man right out of college by creating the social networking app Glazza with some college roommates. In less than a decade, Glazza had grown to become a billion-dollar industry, and made him one of the richest men in the world.

She took note of the Italian alabaster reading lamp beside her bed. She liked it, but had ordered a new lampshade for it. She wanted the ruffled edge to echo the fluted top of the lamp's base.

The pain rolled through her head again, making her reach up to touch her temples. She had indeed had too much to drink the night before. She set the crystal glass on the bedside table, but didn't wonder why she drank herself to sleep. Her husband Cole hadn't come home again.

This had been the third time this week he had called to tell her not to wait up for him. She knew he had a lot on his plate at the office with the pending release of the new redesign for the Glazza app. At the same time, it hurt. It hurt when she lay in bed at the end of the day with nothing but a bottle of wine and Netflix to keep her company.

Even knowing he had said he would be home late, Lara wanted to roll over and look to see if Cole had slipped into bed while she had been asleep. With one of her sleeping pills, she wouldn't notice. She didn't think he was there, though. She didn't see his shoes on the side of the bed like he usually left them. She didn't smell his cologne. She didn't want to look, though, not yet. She wanted to live in blissful ignorance for just a moment, imagining he might be there. She didn't want the disappointment of rolling over and seeing an empty bed. Not yet.

She looked around the bedroom again. She had worked hard to decorate it to give off a sense of modern elegance. Unlike the rest of the condo, this room had accents like a 1960s wall sculpture and an antique French tole clock. Everything had been chosen with a palette of rich grays, a layering of textures, and clean-lined silhouettes to give the space an overarching sense of modernity.

Yes, she had an eye for decorating, but it never seemed like enough. She had to keep making tweaks and changes until it felt perfect.

Lara could hear voices outside the bedroom door. It sounded like her stepdaughter Raven was getting ready for school with the help of her nanny, Ursula Wagner. Lara knew she should get up, but this moment of peace in the morning before she got up and went to work at the Foundation always seemed too fleeting. No arguing with Cole about his late hours at work, no worrying about Raven's piano recital, nothing but peace.

She took a deep breath, wondering if she could smell Cole's cologne. She didn't, but something else came over her, and the smell made her nose wrinkle. It smelled like decay. Had something gone bad in the kitchen?

She rolled over.

A woman lay on the other side of the bed. She wore a tight miniskirt that showed off long legs, a fur coat around her shoulders. The coat had fallen open, revealing large breasts under a tight white top. The woman had long blonde hair falling around a face that had been smashed in.