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Prologue

The Past

It was almost time Colin looked down at his watch, then up to thefacing the street Where was she?

The vinyl booth crinkled as he shifted his weight Behind hihed

He worriedly thumbed the slick cover of the proiven hi some kind of event He didn’t knohat, since he hadn’t paid attention to anything she said

Today was going to be huge, and he had no thoughts for anything other than Blanca She still wasn’t there

“Blanca,” he whispered to himself, “it’s not like you to be late”

Where could she be?

Colin peered out the large, sunny s again, squinting Soht his eye What was that? Who was that?

There, going slower than the rest of the traffic, was a car he didn’t recognize But what he did recognize were the faces within

Her, laughing

Hiazes with Colin

Blanca, and

The car shot forward, rocketing out of Colin’s view, but not out of earshot

He recoiled in horror when he heard the unAnd screams

Again and again he heard the screams Her screams

Those sounds would haunt him forever Her face would haunt him forever

And he would never be the same

Chapter One

Present Day

THE BUZZ OF THE ALARM came too soon Sabela cracked open her eyes and stared at the red numbers on the display It was just after seven am

Wrapping up a double shift at the diner the night before ht as well have been no sleep at all, but she knew she had to get up Another fun-filled day of double shifts awaited her It was tiet to it

Slowly, she climbed out of bed and willed her li to be the kind of day where coffee was a ? If only

Sabela felt as if she hadn’t slept in years, and the way her muscles protested every time she moved, she felt more like one hundred and two than twenty-four years old But elderly or not, she had responsibilities to attend to

She stumbled into the kitchen and hit the switch to start the drip of the coffee machine Across the hall cah the closed door to her brother’s rooht underneath the door crack confirmed the TV was on

More sports? Whether it was the latest edition of “24/7 SportsTalk” or some other sports-related show, Trevor had an addiction It was cutting into his sleep, and Sabela wasn’t happy about it It was al habit he’d developed

That addiction was recent It would have to be, since they’d never been able to afford such a thing before … before the mysterious “He” came into their lives Whoever “He” was Their anonymous benefactor

Sabela shook her head It was early, and she was too groggy to indulge in that incessant, and pointless, guessing game

She made her way into the small bathroom she shared with Trevor In the tiny apartment, it often felt claustrophobic with the two of the it, not noay Maybe soon, though, if the mysterious “He” continued his support, and if Sabela continued to accept his offerings

She shouldn’t complain about the small bathroom How ot out of the place during the day, but he had hardly left the house since he’d been put in his wheelchair Claustrophobic for her ht oppressive for him

On the bathrooht red “PT,” was Trevor’s at-home physical therapy Maybe her double shift wasn’t such a bad thing after all She should be glad to get away Trevor’s therapy sessions were a trial, to say the least

Sabela had no idea how the nurses put up with Trevor’s surly attitude, crude mouth and pessi his condition no e him, and he didn’t listen to the nurses, either

After carefully covering her hair, she took a quick shower, and returned to her rooer contents of her closet Then she looked over her shoulder at her sewing machine The dress that rested on it had been worth the late night hours she’d spent working on it

Sabela had saved weeks’ worth of tip er developing the design She so double shifts at the diner was a sn fed her soul and did orate her than a few minutes of sleep ever could have done

Even if she could only devote twenty ht Last night she’d al to finish the dress, but it had been worth it The project wasn’t finished yet, but it was already beautiful

She crossed the rooainst herself and looked in the full-length mirror on the back of her door In her opinion, it was her best work yet

It had a low slit up the side of the asymmetrical skir

t that ensured it would show plenty of leg The scoop-necked collar connected to the solitary strap that crossed only one shoulder

Sabela hadn’t put it on yet, but she knew the high-end, red, slinkyand showcase every curve of her body Too bad she didn’t have anywhere to wear it, and no one to show her body off to

She didn’t have tiinto her closet

She could just wear her restaurant uniforood at all tie before her shift, Sabela pulled on her favorite pair of jeans and a short-sleeved shrug sweater she had designed herself

The jeans were fashionable, and had holes cut in several strategically placed positions around her shapely legs Trash was in Or at least, hot legs were She grinned

The short-sleeve sweater she pulled off the hanger was a pattern shesweaters It had taken quite a while to figure out exactly how to do the stitching right so that the folds around her neck fell in a pleasing way, but she was delighted with the end result Plus, it was in a flattering shade of creaolden brown tones of her skin

Best of all, since she’d made it, the outfit had cost less than twenty dollars She allowed herself a brief, rare ood

Sabela carefully pulled the front of her hair back with a clip so that it would stay out of her face There was a part of her that was tempted to cut her hair short, but she reer, wavy locks It was a nod to her mother’s memory that she kept it hoas Besides, she could always arrange it into a sleek bun if she wanted to dress up

Satisfied that she looked as good as she was going to get, she made her way down the hall and reluctantly rapped on Trevor’s door

The interaction should last less than a minute if she was lucky Unfortunately, Sabela was rarely lucky these days She took a deep breath and waited for the door to open It didn’t

“What do you want?” The voice on the other side of the door sounded annoyed and snide Thelike the aloof but kind brother she remembered from her youth

“I’o to work Can I come in?” she asked

There was nothing but a snorted reply Sabela figured that was acknowledgh

As soon as she opened the door, the unsavory smells hit her It was clear that Trevor hadn’t bathed in several days, and she knew there was moldy food on dirty plates buried under the piles of clothes covering the floor

He could have kept his room clean, if he wanted to She asked hinored her, and his slovenly ways see worse She wished she could afford to hire a housekeeper

Even after the recent windfall thanks to her unknown benefactor, Sabela and her brother reet She needed to be smart about her cash, because she had no idea when it would dry up A housekeeper was a luxury she couldn’t justify

She’d have to clean up Trevor’s rooy after work tonight

Trevor stared at the television, pointedly ignoring her His hair was clurubby white tank top and a pair of equally grubby, ancient sweatpants

Once upon a tis were muscular, but now they were shriveled to half their forrown, distended unnaturally, no longer flat

He lay sprawled on his bed, not caring about his appearance in any way Sabela knew that if she suggested he clean up, and if she offered to help hiet the hell out