's shirt underneath, as she pushed open the door to the crampe

zone. Drawers were pulled out

sat on the sagging sofa. He wa

he saw her. "Where the hell were you? S

father. "You knew," she said, her voice h

et box. "It was for Darwin, Francisca. We need the ba

A polite w

ned to her ro

ped the velv

locket. The one thing she had managed to save when the feds seized the m

," she said, s

Tonight. The Vault. You go to him, apologize, and make

chen. "It's worth two grand,

the man who had sired her. There was no love in h

voice was dead. "But I

d said, snappin

a first-aid kit from under the bed. It was left over from when Darwin wa

days of Darwin's illness, when a visiting home-care nurse had shown their mother ho

el. She capped the needle and slipped i

made her chest ache with the sheer distance between their worlds-and put on a black dress w

d practiced a smile. It loo

ss tower, Everet Adams re

ault tonight," Liam s

st the mahogany desk. The rhythmic c

ervene?" L

oned his jacket. "We're

The neon sign buzzed like an angry inse

horne,"

red but unhooked

ic barrel of the syringe dug into her p