Page 148 of What Doesn't Kill Her

Max’s smile faded. His face became watchful. “Why?”

Kellen had to tell him. Warn him. She looked around, avoiding his gaze, and—Rae had disappeared from the dance floor.

“Where is she?” Kellen searched the wedding party.

“Who?”

“Rae. Where is—?” Kellen caught her breath.

There, at the edge of the dance floor, she saw them. Rae, her charming trusting lovely daughter, smiling and talking to...to a...

FEMALE, WHITE, TANNED, HEALTHY, 5'6", 130 LBS. AGGRESSIVELY PHYSICALLY FIT. DARK HAIR. BRILLIANT BLUE EYES.

She looks older than the last time I saw her...

Mara Philippi, smuggler and serial killer, the woman who had almost murdered Kellen. The woman Max and Kellen had captured and sent to prison.

In slow motion, Mara knelt before Rae and listened to Rae’s enthusiastic babble, then turned her head and smiled directly at Kellen, taunting her with her helplessness.

“She’s here.” Kellen stopped dancing and dug her fingernails into Max’s arm.

“Who’s here?” He looked around, alarmed.

“Mara Philippi. She’s here. She’s with Rae. She has Rae.” The gray mist moved like an ocean fog over Kellen’s mind, invincible, blinding her, binding her.

“Where?” He held Kellen up by her elbows and helped her circle in slow motion.

“There.” Kellen tried to point, but when she stared at the place where Mara Philippi and Rae had been, they were gone. “Rae. Where is Rae?”

“I can see her. She’s with my mother and Arthur, talking and dancing. She’s safe, Kellen, she’s safe.”

Kellen looked up into his eyes. “No. I wasn’t hallucinating, Max. Mara Philippi is back, and she wants to kill everything I love. Save Rae. Take care of yourself. I love you forever.” She collapsed in his arms.

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