t had a

Gunpowder. Blo

she did, it was always that night. The fire didn't just take her family

had been small-time, but smart-her father ran clean shipments out of the Port of Longshore. No drugs

it turns out, a

rother Ben was the one who answered. She remembered the way he tilted his head, confu

a mes

casserole. Her father reached for the revolver in the drawer by th

owns, white porcelain twisted into grotesque cheer. She'd never seen anything

. The way her father had tried to shield her with his body even as bullets r

idn't

't make

watc

e was taller than the rest. Moved like he owned the ground. A silver scorpi

t the

one thing

ds. Ventresc

e house

feet blistering on red-hot tile. She ran barefoot through the backwoods behind

e'd died with t

faulty gas line, maybe arson by a rival, but nothing worth

er family

nto the port busi

Caroline R

ho survive

memorized the

every face, every smirk into her

ne else-Cara, the girl who smiled when men underestimated her. The girl who studied the

d

was th