He looked at the woman sleeping beside him. Despite their similar appearance, she would never replace his real love.

She was my chance for redemption.

He left the bed and walk into the bathroom.

His rage spiked when he saw a bottle of Sublime Vanille on the bathroom counter.

And I threw my chance away. He grabbed the perfume bottle and hurled it at the wall.

The beautifully crafted crystal bottle smashed into tiny little pieces and the smell that was so like her spread through the room, almost choking him.

The futility of all his acts brought him to his knees as tears watered his azure eyes.

Now, I’m damned to waste away. Alone.

Defeated, he lowered his head on his knees. How am I supposed to go on living without her?

Acknowledgments

The first installment of the TRUST trilogy was my first experience in the writing world.

I had that romantic notion that all I had to do was write a good book and people would buy it. I was an avid reader and I always looked for my books on Amazon and at bookstores. I didn’t know what Goodreads.com was or that ARCs, beta readers or bloggers existed.

So, my thanks this time starts with:

My readers and fans at Goodreads and LibraryThing, who have spread the word about my book and posted their lovely reviews, sharing their thoughts with me, and rooting for TRUST: Alberto Finamore, Gigi Tous, Dolors Casas - Ah, Dolors! Thanks for your friendship; Paddy O’Callaghan, Josie Raphjson and all those who have befriended me along this journey;

To my beta and advanced readers: Amy Haroulakis, Haylee Tippet, Leta Fisher, Marina Moura, Natalie Gerber, Niyati Makinkurve, Sónia Costa, Stacey Price, Tammy Thompson; Ladies, your caring feedback helped a lot;

To ALL the bloggers who shared their love of reading with me, for your TRUST in me, especially to: Braine at Talk Supe; Holly Polk, at Full Moon Bites, Katie at Babbling About Books and More; Mariann Mclaughlin, at Belle’s Book Bag; Marina Moura, at Minha Vida Por Um Livro; Naadir Idrus, at The-Bookaholics, Niyati Mavinkurve, at Books, Food and Me, Pamela, reviewing as Mason Canyon, at Thoughts in Progress; Roxanne Rhoads, at Full Moon Bites; Svetlana Len, at Sveta Random Blog; and so many others these pages are not long enough to list them;

To Linda Sims and Jane Stewart, Amazon Top Reviewers, who were kind enough to share with me their experienced thoughts;

To Margarete Bianchi, for your help with the therapy sessions.

Now. To TRUST’s surrogate mothers:

A most especial THANK YOU to Carla Kasumi Atkins. Thank you for taking such special loving care editing and reviewing my baby. You are the best!

Fernanda Martinez, and all you guys from the oitoeoito team, thanks for doing such an amazing site and fan page;

Renata Fontanive, thanks for creating such a beautiful cover and bookmark and putting up with me as I requested changes and more changes;

Mariana de Oliveira e Castro, for your constant help, thank you.

And last but not least, I cannot forget to thank my family, especially my husband, Raphael - who finally read TRUST - and my lovely daughters, Raphaela and Giovanna, thanks for your infinite patience and all the love you gave me.

About the Author

I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with my husband and two daughters. I’m a lawyer and have always loved to read and write. After twenty years of practicing law, I decided to give writing a go.

And - amazingly - it was the piece that was missing in my life.

As confessions go, I also need to tell you that Sophia, Gabriela and I share a few things. Apart from being able to read when I was three and starting my first University course - Fine Arts - when I was fifteen years old, I also share Sophia’s interest in preventing sexual abuse and violence against children and women. My senior thesis at law school was on this subject, twenty-two years ago.

This book is a work of fiction and the characters, and dialogues, places and incidents involving them are drawn from my imagination or are used fictitiously.

However, whenever I’ve used real locations, I’ve tried to keep all the details and descriptions as real as possible.

Unfortunately, I have to tell you that it’s true that more than thirteen million abortions are performed in China every year. And that drug trades use baby flesh to make supposed cure-all pills.

You can find more information on the TRUST TRILOGY on my website: cristianeserruya.com.br

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I loved writing it