er cramped basement apartment, Carissa aggressively shoved

Men were shouting outside, hurling vile curses. Isiah

She reached over to the kitchenette counter and grabbed a ruste

er potted plants and kicking the meta

ng the duffel bag over her shoulder, too

eam, lunging forward wi

mbled backward. Carissa sprinted through the gap

tch!" one of

et, the heavy rain blinding her.

melling drunk stepped out of an alley. He grabb

nd tried to drag her into the shadows.

y handle of the knife into the drunk's skull.

shed into a deep puddle of muddy water

k lunged

blinding LED headlight

its brakes, sending a wave of dirty

d out into the storm. He wore a black trench

kicked the man squarely in the chest. The drunk flew backward, hitting the

t. Seeing the armored car and the men in s

sa was sitting in the mud. He looke

e shrugged off his custom trench coa

eat, and smelled strongly of cedar and expensive cologne. Cariss

d, his voice dripping with disdai

you. She pulled the coat tight around her shiver

ead to Long Island, then told his guard through the wi

in drumming on the roof. Water dripped fro

d out a bottle of water, and slammed i

bottle and drank greedily. The col

lling on her cheek. "You rejected my mon

"I don't have a family anymore," she said, her

He looked at her thin, rigid posture wrapped in his coa

p to the illuminated estate. Alista

a guest room," he told the butler, and w