To Live or Die

About the Book

..........Nicole, a 30 year old woman, who is a dream of every man, decides to end her life because she can no longer cope with the troubles of life. Memories of her life spin back and forth through her head, as she remembers more and more what had happened to her life. Nicole grew up on Long Island with her parents. Her childhood was abruptly ended when her parent's life ended in a car accident. She moves in with her aunt, but is sexually molested by her uncle. Unable to deal with her or the stress he causes her, she runs away from home in 1982. She runs to New York where she meets Roger, a stockbroker. Roger helps to find her a job and they start dating. Roger's father is opposed to the relationship his son is having. He tries everything to break up the couple. His attempts are halted by his own romance with a green-eyed gold-digger, who leaves him the moment she finds out about the bankruptcy of his firm. Unable to deal with such events, Edward Berdrat takes his life away with a single shot to his head. Having a hard time dealing with his father's death, Roger marries Nicole, and they begin a new life together. ..........The acting goes by like memories. The memories of Roger and Nicole follow each other closely. Roger wakes up in a dark, locked room, where he attempts to figure out what has happened, and if it's a dream or reality. His life of a family man with two children had stopped. Roger and Nicole are kidnapped and held for ransom. Joe Williams, a religious fanatic and the leader of a cult holds Roger and children as hostages. He threatens Roger to kill his wife and his children. At the same time Nicole was held for a month in an unfamiliar place after she was released blindfolded and warned not to go to the police. She finds out that they lost everything. The house is auctioned off and the bank accounts are empty. Unable to go on with her problems she decides to end her life in a hotel. While her memories are soaring through her head an enlightening voice enters her thoughts and tells her that she must be strong and that she must go on and save her husband and her children. She listens to the voice and gets a job on a cruise liner, where she earns enough money to hire a private detective, Henry Lee. ..........Throughout her ordeal Nicole is being followed by Frank, who was sent to tail her by Joe Williams. Life, however, is not without an irony. Nicole begins to fall for Frank, and they get close and closer. The liner, that makes four cruising trips a season, includes a lot of interesting people. Nicole spends many months on board the ship. One day she listens in on a phone conversation of Frank and his boss and she realizes that Frank worked for this man who holds her family hostage. Frank, at the same time, doesn't really care for a small bond he has with Joe Williams, and having stolen a large sum of money from the cult, decides to run away to Mexico. ..........The private detective does his job. With the help of a friend from FBI, Henry Lee finds Joe Williams on the island. He arrests him with the charges of kidnapping and creation of an illegal religious organization. Joe Williams proves a lot smarter than anyone can think and gets out of jail. For a while Nicole and her family are forced to live under the protection of the FBI in Pennsylvania. ..........No matter how hard she tries, Nicole can't forget Frank. Finally she meets him at an old barn. Frank shows her fake passports and real cash and asks her to go to Mexico with him. Nicole agrees to his proposal, but as they spend a night together, she pours poison in his drink. Digging his grave she thinks that family is more important than sexual attractions. She decides to gather all her strength and move with her family to Switzerland, where she believes no one will find them.

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