Rich Little Liars

Prologue

The smoke came first. Thick and black, it poured through the house like water, filling my lungs before I could even think to hold my breath. I was coughing, bent double in the hallway, and the heat was everywhere – pressing against my skin, making the air shimmer and warp.

‘Daniel!’

My voice cracked. The walls were glowing orange now, paint bubbling into blisters that burst and wept. I couldn’t see. Couldn’t think. The floorboards groaned beneath me, a sound like something dying.

Then the ceiling screamed.

It wasn’t a sound I knew wood could make. A tearing, splintering roar that drowned out everything else. The beam came down between us, a wall of flame, and my husband was gone.

‘Daniel…’

I was on my knees. The smoke was so thick I might as well have been blind. I reached forwards, fingers stretching into darkness, but there was nothing. Just heat and the crackle of flames and wood splitting apart.

Somewhere above me, glass shattered.

The sound was almost pretty – like wind chimes in hell.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t tell which way was forwards and which way was out. There was just smoke and heat and the smell of something burning that shouldn’t have been. Something that made my stomach turn even as my lungs seized.

The house was eating itself alive.

And I barely made it out.