Daniel's words should have sounded sweet and loving. But as Ariana caught a glimpse of Sergei
 
 across the room, looking naked and vulnerable without his camera, she couldn't help but hear
 
 them as a threat.
 
 267
 
 WHAT IF ARIANA OSGOOD ESCAPED?
 
 WHAT IF SHE RE-ENTERED THE WORLD WHERE SHE BELONGS?
 
 THE WORLD OF WEALTH, SECRETS, AND
 
 PRIVILEGEWOULD ANYONE BE SAFE?
 
 Turn the page for a sneak peek of PRIVILEGE, a new series from the author of the bestselling
 
 PRIVATE series, coming December 2008.
 
 268
 
 [This Page Is Blank.]
 
 269
 
 NEVER
 
 "Its not fair."It wasn't a whine or a complaint, just a statement. A statement of the obvious, as far
 
 as Ariana Osgood was concerned. As she stared out the window of the Brenda T. Trumbull
 
 Correctional Facility for Women, past the maddening check pattern of translucent lines etched
 
 into the glass, it was all she could think to say. Outside, the leaves on the trees swayed lazily in the
 
 warm summer breeze--a breeze she would be allowed to feel against her skin for exactly fifty-five
 
 minutes during midday recess. Recess. That was what the warden called it. Who ever heard of a
 
 seventeen-year-old girl looking forward to recess?
 
 "It's just not fair."
 
 Across the wide oak desk, her "therapist" (Ariana added mental air quotes every time she thought
 
 of his title) smirked. Shifting in his seat, Dr. Meloni leaned back, forcing his expensive leather chair
 
 270
 
 to let out the loud creak that he knew made Ariana's skin crawl. Just outside the fence that
 
 encircled the grounds, about a hundred yards from where she now sat, Meloni's precious
 
 Doberman Rambo barked nonstop, as always. The inmates of Brenda T. Trumbull listened to that
 
 damn dog bark all day long, every day. It was as if Meloni was trying to remind them that he was
 
 always there, always watching, even when they weren't in session with him.