kness. Suddenly, a violent sensation of suffocatio

ive breath of air, her chest heaving as if she

cting to feel shredded flesh and exposed bone. Her hand

the Hamptons. She was lying on a lumpy spring matt

eeling floral wallpaper covered the walls. The heavy r

herself to stand. She stumbled into the cramped, filthy ba

back at her was young, pale, and strikingly beautiful, b

hat didn't belong to her flooded her brain like an electric shoc

a twenty-two-year-old g

rugged her tonight. They sold her to a loan shark n

A heavy, balding man in a cheap suit pushed the door o

greasy eyes scanned the room and landed on Gena k

cted was gone. The eyes looking back at him were dead, cold, and fill

unged forward, reaching out with thick

lent outburst years ago. Muscle memory took over. Gena shifted her weight and sidestepped with desperate but

red with sudden anger. He swung his arm b

n her. She couldn't duck in time. The heavy ring on Mitch's finger cau

hellfire inside her. Gena reached out and grabbed th

She swung the heavy glass ashtray with every ounce of strength in

f pain. He stumbled backward, clutching his bleeding face,

, grabbed his shoulders, and drove her kn

wet cement. He curled into a tight ball, whe

hed into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wa

the chair, shoved the door open, and r

opened her arms, and let the water wash over her. The physical sensation of t

ducked into a dark, narrow alleyway overflowing with garbage cans a

. Gena. She would use this body to te

the deep end of the alley. Then, the distinct,

nto a crouch and scrambled behind th

ley. The man took two uneven steps and collapsed, splashing heavily into