sted bathtub in a motel on the outskirts of the city, clutching a b

lept in thir

hwater

statement expressing "regret and condolences." Her supposed death, reported as a suspected suicide, was framed around s

her like a sta

cked phone screen unt

mething-anger, despair,

The kind that settles in

rawn before everything went to hell-five grand in cash-was stuffed into a duffel bag along with her mother's old locket and

s a s

reets like smoke. Mia moved like a shadow-head down, eyes scanning. She couldn

The part of town where names didn't matter, and

wasn't a fantasy anymore-it was a proce

came

as

ost. He trained people to vanish. Or to reappear as someone else. Word was, if you had e

had

m in a bar w

lent poker game, and two whispered p

s, weathered hands, sharp blue eyes like a hawk's. He didn

duffel bag

ear," she said. "

ooke

d can't buy or break. I want to destroy everyt

long drag,

kill, and vanish again. But once you start down this path, t

she said coldly

her for a

. "Because you'