Lila stood at the bottom of the narrow staircase, staring up at the rundown apartment building with a mixture of disgust and grim determination. The neighborhood was exactly as she remembered from her last visit, decaying, forgotten, the kind of place where dreams went to die.
This was not a place for someone like her. But necessity had dragged her back here.
Her bandaged arm still throbbed from the controlled explosion Damien had arranged as a warning. Every pulse of pain reminded her of her son’s cold voice on the phone: “Next time it won’t be just the car.” The memory made her jaw tighten. Damien had finally shown his true colors. The ruthless boy she had raised was back. And she would meet him with equal ruthlessness.
She climbed the stairs slowly, her heels clicking against the dir
