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CHAPTER 1

BIG Eddie Sinclair sat behind his aged wooden desk in his big empty house--a house that had once been filled with love and laughter--his gnarled, callused hands shaking

Sweat beaded his forehead and ran in thin rivulets down his teed, weather-beaten skin His hands shook so badly that the papers he’d been holding fell, scattering on the desk, soaze unconsciously seeking out theinstalled in his working space She hadn’t wanted hientle wife had been concerned that he’d get cold would have gotten hihed out of the barracks His badass buddies would never let hi man A killer Trained by the best And in turn he had trained the best But right now he felt as helpless as a newborn babe Fear, an emotion that until the day his first child was born had been co his insides He rubbed at his chest in an effort to alleviate the discoes the threat had invoked

He’d lived his life knowing that he was invincible He wasn’t egotistical Men who served with the ood They knew they were good

And none of that ability had been able to save his precious wife

He closed his eyesof tears Even years later, thinking of the love of his life had the power to bring hiret stored in the years since she’d died, leaving hi children to love, protect and raise on his own And by God, he’d done just that He’d made certain they were protected above all else

And now his precious Eden, his only daughter, was a target All because of him and the life he’d led, the choices he’dback to haunt hiht

She was the ie of herA heart of gold Sweet and innocent Alilling to look for the good in people Never seeing the bad

It wasn’t said in so aze fell on the blown-up glossy photos of his daughter Taken in a ht her to never let her guard down She el and pose for ca, but she had the mind of a soldier Eddie had ensured that

I’ll take from you what you took from me I won’t stop until pain is all you see, all you feel, all you know I’ll take every single thing you love and then you’ll die Beautiful, isn’t she?

The note, so sily, black

The photos of Eden gliht she was out of the ca or makeup If he weren’t so terrified, he would have softened at the real Eden More comfortable in sweats, hair in a ponytail, face devoid of cosmetics So beautiful it hurt to look at her because she reminded hi her nu, he nearly hung up, but Eden would only call back What could he possibly say to her?