Page 1 of Sold to the Nalgar (Stolen From Earth #3)

C ecilia Lim leaned back against the plush cushions of her outdoor lounge, feeling the sharp New York breeze whisper over her bare feet.

She swirled the dark ruby liquid in her glass—an indulgent Californian shiraz—and took a long, soothing sip, hoping it would silence the relentless whirlpool of thoughts spinning in her mind.

It had been a grueling day, as most days tended to be.

But tomorrow’s court appearance loomed particularly large.

Medical malpractice. A surgeon who’d carelessly removed a healthy kidney instead of the one afflicted with cancer.

Her client, a fifty-four-year-old father named Jim Reed, would now spend his remaining years tethered to a dialysis machine, desperately awaiting a transplant.

A simple surgical mistake had changed an entire family's fate. Cecilia planned to make the hospital pay dearly, her suit demanding a cool fifteen million dollars—enough, she hoped, to at least ease Jim’s suffering and provide security for his children.

She let her head rest against the back of the chair, eyes closed, listening to the perpetual heartbeat of Manhattan. Her elegant but understated apartment in Tribeca had always been her refuge, high above the city's chaos, her sanctuary where ambition momentarily yielded to quiet reprieve.

A brief sigh escaped her lips, tension slowly uncoiling from her shoulders as the wine worked its subtle magic.

Then—a noise. Not from the streets below, but close. A dull thud.

Her eyes snapped open. Adrenaline sparked through her veins.

In an instant, they were there—figures in dark, sleek outfits, faces obscured by smooth, featureless masks that caught and distorted the faint ambient light.

“What the fu—” Cecilia's startled scream was abruptly silenced. A gloved hand clamped over her mouth, another arm wrapping vice-like around her waist. Her glass crashed to the floor, shattering violently, wine pooling darkly like spilled blood.

Panic exploded through her as her limbs flailed uselessly, her pulse pounding deafeningly in her ears. How the hell had they gotten in? She was ten stories up, her building secured, monitored.

A sharp chemical scent filled her nostrils. Her vision blurred, edges darkening, consciousness slipping through her fingers like smoke.

Her final, terrified thought echoed into nothingness: How was this possible?

And then, the world vanished into darkness.