ing New York night. Rocco tossed Jun

inst the door panel. She did not stir. The darknes

her nose. June's eyes snapped open. The blinding white

ngers digging into the thin hospital blanket

raw skin on her wrists burned. Her mind instantly linked the torn clothes, the camera, and

k blue scrubs, pushed the door open. She carri

ke a trapped bird. She scrambled backward, pressing her spin

down and raised both hands in the air, speak

th terror. Her eyes darted around the sterile r

ound a glass water pitcher. She hurled it onto the l

shard of glass. She pressed the pointed edge directly again

on the wall. She told June, "Mr. Becker arranged everything before he lef

June's arms broke. The glass shard slipped from her numb fin

rs spilled over her eyelashes. A suffocating blank

. June did not pull away. She sat there like a hollow shell

ooked up. Her voice was a raspy c

ver. June's fingers shook as she dialed Jessica Cole's pr

ice of Jessica Cole's assistant informed June that the madam was curren

sound came out. The blood

hed over and ripped the IV needle out of the back of her hand

the nurse's hands away. She swung her bare feet over t

e, washed but still torn at the collar. The sight

er crest hung on the wall. The Becker family logo. Her lungs seized. Going to the NYPD would do

ors. The early morning wind slapped her face. S

way back to her cramped Brooklyn apartment. She unlocked the door, walked s

rush from the shelf. She scrubbed at her arms, her chest, her stomach. She scrubb

slid down the wet tile wall and hit the floor of the tub. She

pale, bruised face in the foggy mirror. She bit her lower lip u

d the cardboard tube holding her architectural blueprints from the table. She

ard the subway station, clutchi