s and music at the main house,

ike calculated cruelty than mercy,

her tattered dress a stark con

und Clara i

wore Izzy's late mother's

as a fist t

a Gator enforcer, drunk and

who

knees, forcing her to kn

his face devo

said, his voice fl

explain the long, painful walk from her iso

bedience. A new

ou were defiant. That didn't end well, d

uel smile playi

the doctors to patch you up. C

Izzy up, her fingers d

pping with false sympathy. "It must be so hard,

n fixed on I

lligator tooth, strung

g ago, from the bayou, rumor

, her eyes gleaming with avarice. "It's rat

ax. He was watch

he necklace from her wris

shattered on Jax's tabl

ed, then turne

now. So graceful with her Southern waltz

ager, jeering laughter from the Gator

y or malicious, "accidentally" spilled

stew scald

dn't c

oed around her. "Stil

zy began

zes she once loved, in the grand ba

d by whiskey, gre

what the great Beaum

re cold, unreadable. He gave a

sion g

racing paths through

she removed her

resh burns, tearing f

save for her ragged breathing

ly dispersed, Jax found her hudd

ed of w

rough thumb wiping a

feel sorry for you,

y whispered, h

seized her chest. The old ailme

nful sound, and blood splatt

d, his eyes

after all these years? You'

ightest headache, and how he'd fuss over her, br

this, on and off, for year

hrough Izzy's body

ng, she thought she saw a flicker

floor, his grip surprisingly gent

, his face close to hers. "You have to

ime was a

igitte's voice ech

da