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CHAPTER ONE

WAS THERE A reason the men in her life—the iuided her—had all turned to the dark side? Was she the connection? Or was it just a coincidence that her father turned criminal and now her partner at the FBI seemed to have done the same?

Only on a much more sinister level?

Once again, her world had been smashed to bits by a eha ball in the forlass house she lived in, launching millions of sharp shards at her delicate skin

And it hurt

God, did it hurt

“One more chance, bitch What the fuck are you doin’ here?” some dead-eyed brute asked her about five seconds after his fist connected with her face

For the second time

The additional punch disoriented her for a second, long enough to lose her sense of upright and round of the Tennessee forest felt about as wonderful as being socked in the face Shit, she was going to feel this for quite a while

If she survived

On all fours, with palravel and dirt embedded in her skin, Stephanie spit out blood that had pooled in her mouth from the split lip Fear clawed at her throat, but there wasn’t ti,” she said, the sound a bitShe stared up at theon her couch and watching Netflix Not a good sign It ive a shit about her life “Got lost”

And…da with a split lip would hurt so damn much? Tears pooled in her eyes, but she’d rather die than let one of those suckers slip free She wasn’t the toughest of chicks out there…physically at least A few arrests during her time as a beat cop had resulted in physical altercations with significant buh mask in front of her fellow officers but bawled like a baby in the privacy of her own home