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PROLOGUE

They say that children have the purest hearts That children don’t truly hate, because they don’t fully understand the eet easily

They say a lot of bullshit like that, because it helps thes to hang on their walls and smile at as they pass by

I know differently Children love like no one else They have the capacity to love more fiercely than anyone That e of ten, I knew hate, and I knew love Both all-consu

Looking back noish someone had been there to see how my mother had sown the seed of hate inside me Inside my sister If someone had been there to save us from the lies and bitterness she allowed to fester within us, then s would have been different For everyone involved

I never would have acted so foolishly It wouldn’t have beenirl stood at herthat the last person on earth who loved her was dead It wouldn’t have beena broken, hollow shell

But no one saved me

No one saved us

We believed the lies We held on to our hate Yet I alone destroyed an innocent girl’s life

They say you reap what you sew That’s bullshit, too Because I should be burning in hell forwith this beautiful woet to hold my son and know such a pure joy

But I do

Because eventually, someone did save me I didn’t deserve it Hell,She hadn’t acted on her hate She hadn’tabout the outcome But her bitterness still controls her, while I’ve been delivered By a girl

But she isn’t just a girl She is an angel My angel A beautiful, strong, fierce, loyal angel who entered un

CHAPTER ONE

This isn’t your typical love story It’s really too co But when you’re the bastard son of the legendary drummer from one of the most beloved rock bands in the world, you expect serious fk-ups It’s e’re known for Add the selfish, spoiled, self-centered mother who raised me into the mix, and the outcome isn’t pretty

There are so many places where I could start this story In my bedroom, as I held my sister while she cried from the pain of our mother’s cruel words At the front door, as she watched, with tears strea down her face, whileher alone Both of those things happened often,me forever I hated to see her cry Yet it was a part of my life

We shared the same mother, but our fathers were different Mine was a fas, and rock and roll every other weekend and for a ot me He never made excuses He was always there As iet me Even if he wasn’t sober, he came

Nan’s father never cah I loved being withshe needed me I was her parent I was the one person she could trust to take care of her It row up quickly

When I asked et this sad look on his face and shake his head “Can’t, son Wish I could, but your momma won’t allow that”

He never said anything more I just knew that if my mother wouldn’t allow it, then there was no hope So Nan was left alone I wanted to hate so my mother was hard She was my mom I was a kid

So I found a place to focus my hate and resentment at the injustice of Nan’s life The h her veins yet didn’t love her enough even to send a birthday card He had his own family now Nan had been to see them once

She had forced Mom to take her to his house She wanted to talk to him See his face She just kneould love her I think, deep down, she thought Mom hadn’t told him about her She had this fairy tale in her head that her father would realize she existed and swoop in and save her Give her the love she so desperately sought

His house had been smaller than ours Much smaller It was seven hours away in a small country town in Alabama Nan had said it was perfect Moh, that haunted Nan Not the small white picket fence that she described to me in detail Or the basketball hoop outside and the bicycles leaning against the garage door

It had been the girl who opened the door She’d had long blond hair, almost white She had re tennis shoes with dirt on them Nan had never owned a pair of tennis shoes or been near dirt The girl had smiled at her, and Nan had been momentarily enchanted Then she’d seen the pictures on the wall behind the girl Pictures of this girl and another girl just like this one And a

He was their father

This was one of the two daughters he loved It had been obvious, even to Nan’s young eyes, that he was happy in those photos He wasn’tthe child he had left behind The one herher he knew about

All those things our mother had tried to tell her over the years that she had refused to believe suddenly fell into place She had been telling the truth Nan’s father hadn’t wanted her, because he had this life These two beautiful, angelic daughters and a ho looked so much like them

Those photos on the wall had tortured Nan for years afterward Again, I wanted to hatethe truth in her face At least when Nan had lived in her fairy tale, she had been happier, but her innocence was lost that day And row inside me

They had taken from my little sister the life she deserved, a father who could love her Those girls didn’t deserve him more than Nan did That woirls to keep him from Nan I hated them all

I eventually acted on that hate, but the story really starts the night Blaire Wynn walked into el My worst nightmare

I had told Nan I didn’t want people over that night, but she’d invited them anyway My little sister didn’t take no for an answer ever Leaning back on the couch, I stretched s out in front ofaround here long enough to et out of hand Nan’s friends were younger than ot a little rowdy sometimes But I put up with it because it made her happy