a Hay

oor apartment smelled heavily of

l sofa, her muddy shoes resting on the coffee table, while Billy Tucker lean

hallway, his lean frame leaning h

und the handle, his jaw set

en?" Martha barked, struggl

sal. He bought a two-carat ring, Se

th a loud click, sliding a velv

Serena," he sneered

archivist and a crippled brother are

us, planting his cane f

ly. Touch my sister, and I'll

Declan's shoulder wit

e, before you bre

his breath catching in pai

outed, dropping my bag and stepp

it, little girl?" Billy smi

long to

" I said, my voice droppin

t of my coat and pulled out th

riage certificate onto the coffe

ready m

into absolute, su

ll open, her doub

down to the gold-embossed se

e document from the table, his

lly's voice cracked int

-ass night driver who lives in a shack out

aten my family," I replied coldly

ld. You touch this apartment, you touch my brother, or you come near my shop again, and my h

pointing a shaking, pu

tect you? He doesn't have two dimes to rub together! You'll starve out in

, pointing toward

of you

f the paper before throwi

pretty boy driver can't watch

so hard the framed print of the Pa

faded down the stairw

the sofa, letting out a

pping his cane to pull

do?" he whispered, his

ruin your life to

pocket and pulled out a battered enve

patch work. Take it. Get a motel room. D

ack into his hands, blinking a

erapy starts next week. Julian is... safe. He's quiet. He on

Sincl

rked in the shadowed alley across from

steadily agains

turn on t

n't n

loor apartment, every word, every rustle of fabric, and

thud of Billy Tucker's hea

llic click of hi

nap of Serena's voice as she slammed t

ten beats per minute-racing with pure a

twice her size, armed with nothing more t

ned around the wo

beneath my grip wi

thrum resonated deep w

arth, I had seen mortals cower, bargain, weep

er rain, whose fragile throat I could snap with the flick of two fingers

yesterday's cut drifted through the

icted in a viole

tear through the floorboards, drag her out into the w

to lock until the predator insi

urmured, the words turning to v

y mortal

ary lega

ing

ite phone from my breast poc

ven's chief legal proxy,

rd Sin

id, my voice dropping into the

ir commercial

re subsidiary in

Billy Tucker sets foot near the Hayes workshop again, ensure he

ndled immediat

third-floor window just as Se

e to colle