't open. It e

ave way with a s

arette dangling from her lip. Ash fell

tility knife up her sleeve, the coo

ever really looked at her. She looked through her, at the space

tack of paper

gn

de Preparatory Academy -

ling from her nose. "Night shift at the canner

ere, his face smoother, but the cruelty in his eyes w

smoothly. "Dad's disability check is

rif

hifts gutting fish until her hands were raw. She had given Hakeem ev

ard. Her hand raise

damn paper, you u

y mo

t was a pivot. A calc

momentum carried her forward, and she stum

d, shock warring with f

still. Her eyes locked

," Kar

ut it carried a weigh

say to me?"

She held it up so they could both see it. "I'm not

doorframe. "You thin

me out of that school, Ardell, I'm going t

ce went sla

you take boxes of copper wire out the back door every Thursday during the shift change. I

le

he hum of the refrig

r cheeks stood out like clown

," Karl

ped the

ii

arters. She let the pieces flutte

et a full ride scholarship. You won't pay a dime for m

eing a stranger. He stepped between Karly and

, Ma," he

ut

y. They were calculating. Assessing the

. Hakeem pulled the broken

eard their footsteps ret

ees were shaking. Not from fear. From adrenaline. He

at the cale

ms were n

was failing. In the old timeline,

and pulled out a burner phone she

d work