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Her cash supply was hidden safely away froreedy hands

On his way out the door, he grabbed the nearly eainst the wall It landed with a crash, but she didn’t even flinch Small price to pay

Her entire body shaking from the aftermath, she used a chair to pull herself onto her feet Her hand was throbbing, her throat ached But he was gone She tugged the ends of her shirt together Great Seemed her best outfit was now ruined

After quickly checking on the boys, who’d followed her instructions exactly and hidden themselves under the bed with their tablets and headphones, which she’d had to work an extra job fortheot into their pj’s and got into bed

Then she popped soot out, her tre in her hand was down to a dull ro

ar

After getting into her pajamas, she put soe off to let it breathe for a bit Another blister had popped She’d need to be careful not to let it get infected

She exa to bruise? She’d have to find soh-necked in her closet This wasn’t her first rodeo so she had a couple of possible tops she could use

After checking on the boys, ere fast asleep, she slid into bed and grabbed her phone, surprised to find two voice es One from an unknown number The other from her boss

She played the one from the unknown number first

“Hi, Thea This is Carrick Frouy with your car” He cleared his throat and she had to grin at the note of nervousness in his voice “Anyanted to let you know I started working on it tonight It’s got a blown head gasket and worn disc brakes Hopefully, it will be fixed by this weekend and we can go on that date Anyway, uh, I’ll call toht, don’t let the bed bugs biteJesus, can’t believe I just said that”

The call ended, and, despite the day she’d had, she found herself grinning

Then she played the next

“Thea It’s Jardin Malone”

Her eyebrows rose Her normally unflappable boss sounded almost unsure of himself