enne

a heavy, suffocating thing, but I did

he door shut behind her. She reeked of cheap vodka and bitter, festering envy. In one hand, she clutched

red, her eyes wild as she stalked toward me. "Marryin

letting my breathing turn shallow and errati

eed to leave a little souvenir on that pretty face of your

lung

ctory of the blade in a fraction of a second. I shifted my weight, letting the razor slice through empty air a millimeter from my cheek, and

ped space smelled of mildew and rust. She swun

cked around her wrist. I applied a precise, agonizing pressure to the nerve cluster just below her pa

s went numb, the razor clatte

e of the old cast-iron bathtub. We crashed into the tub in a tangle of limbs. I thrashed wildly, making it look like a chao

ed, choking on the

into the bedroom. Brenda burst into th

ckward against the cold porcelain, pulling my knees to m

ed, pointing a trembling finger at t

gasping for air in the tub, and her maternal instincts-twisted as they were-took ove

grabbing me by the coll

ma

o my cheekbone, the force of the blow snapping my head to the

hot and foul. "You better behave. You are a piece of merchandise, nothing more. If

over my lashes as I nodded frantically. "I'm so

lace, Brenda wrapped an arm around Cammie and guided h

latch echoed in

ed by the cold, steady rhythm of my training. I slowly sto

A vicious, dark purple bruise was already blooming across my cheekbone,

mization. Tomorrow morning, when the Romero family came to inspect their new property, th