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ZACK Covington sinal fro on in the basement of the McMansion—not unlike the house he’d once dreairl he’d planned to spend forever with—but he kneasn’t good Son locations People existed in denial that it could happen in their little corner of the world How very wrong they were
It was a lesson he’d learned the hard way Coainst the shores of Kentucky Lake, he’d thought—just as ht—that they were impervious to bad And Zack? He was more confident about that than rown up knowing his father’s job was to ensure the safety of the town, regardless of size
But he’d damn sure failed when it came to Gracie Everyone had failed her and Zack had led the pack His father’s refusal to use county resources on so anyway had caused a rift between Zack and his father that to this day hadn’t been mended
It never would be
Zack sighed as he conte pools behind high privacy fences, the immaculately landscaped yards The white-collar faated community that boasted top-notch security would be horrified to know that evil lurked in their hborhood had recently been voted the safest and reater Houston area Hell, it had scored in the top five in the entire state of Texas and in the top twenty for the whole country So yeah, these people were utterly convinced that they were safe
But he knew better Inside was a child Just a baby Well, not so er than his Gracie Goddamn it Not here Not now It was no time for the past to intrude Besides, Gracie was hardly the beautiful, innocent sixteen-year-old girl he’d loved ht now
If she was even alive
And she wasn’t “his” Gracie any
Maybe he hadn’t been able to save Gracie Maybe he’d failed her But over his dead body would he fail this young girl whose drea as the sun Not when the two most important people in her life—or at least the tho should have been the most important—had failed her in every possible way
Alyssa Lofton had been a very proe, a fact her arten recitals and received high praise and glowing accolades both locally and across the state Later, when the de had encroached on her mother and father’s social life, Alyssa had fallen far down the list of their priorities