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I opened the door under the sink, and as silently as I could, I popped up the loose wooden board where rabbed the cheap sneakers inside, threw on a long-sleeved shirt, and un were still tucked away And then I went over to the toilet and flushed it, then quickly went to theto pry it open I hoped the flushed toilet would lass

Once it was pried open, I tossed round that I wouldn't break a leg ju out

I was halfway out when one of the assholes pounded on the door and barked out, “Hurry it the fuck up” And just as I swung my body out the , I saw the bathrooaze latched on toout

I landed on the ground and grabbed , then ran like my life depended on it

Because it did

2

Arlo

Present day

My mother had been called a whore

My father had been a boyevik—a soldier—for the Bratva

I was an orphan at the age of eleven A crie of twelve

I was a murderer when I turned sixteen

And here I was, fifteen years later, a coldhearted bastard

You could have summed up my life in those details The particulars didn’t matter The people I’d come in contact ere inconsequential It was easy to pretend to have interest It was effortless to act like I had a heart

I’d been told a lot of things during my life, lies to make me fall in line

“Yourbut a cheap slut Wo They’re used up and throay They serve their purpose that way”