Gaining control, Rachel rotated a half turn to the right, opened and focused through her tears on the only source of artificial light in the room. She blinked as the number on the red LCD dial of the bedside clock changed and reflected '2:00 A.M.' in the dark dilated pupils of her tired and sad eyes. She took a cautious step, stopped a full minute in order to watch and listen. Satisfied she had not been detected when she had slipped from the bed and gagged, she tiptoed around the foot of the bed, keeping a wary eye on the rhythmical movement of the sheets produced by the snoring man-the man with whom she had only a short time before given the pleasure of her body. She watched the up and down movement of the sheets for several minutes and tried to visualize the shape of the naked man beneath-the man with whom she had spent the last ten years of her adult life-the man she had married with lust and the promises produced by youthful dreams-the man she now hated. It would be difficult, she knew, yet she must escape. She had endured all she could of the sickening fetish, the girls and the sex. She knew he would pursue her relentlessly, for it was his nature to seek revenge. She made a vow as she stood watching him breathe-a vow so harsh she at one time would never have believed she could make-a vow to never love again. Thus begins Rachel's story.