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Prologue: B. C. (Before Cazar)
Shereallyshouldn’t have done that.
What the hell had she been thinking? Nothing, apparently. She’d beenfeelinginstead, which was a stupid mistake given her circumstances.
She’d just been so fed up with Stephen and all of his freaky behavior that she’d taken matters into her own hands when no one else would. And where had that gotten her?
It had gotten her here. Sitting next to someone who hadn’t bathed in at least a week, if the intense body odor was anything to go by. At least she hadn’t been locked up in the holding cell for very long with her smelly companion, so she still smelled mostly like her shampoo and body wash, scents that she might need to change up now that she was associating them with prison.
I still can’t believe I’m a criminal.
She looked down at her hands, wincing. Well,mostof her was clean. The pads of her fingers were still covered in ink smudges from a few hours earlier, when she’d been arrested and booked for assault. Evie rolled her eyes, exhaustion creeping in. She was weary all the way down to her bones, and not just from today. The last several months of her life had been hell. Finally, driven to the brink of near-insanity from it all, desperate to escape, she’d finally stood up for herself.
Only to wind up in jail.
“Evadora Chambers.” Evie’s head snapped up and she jumped from the bench she’d been sitting on, ignoring the stares from some of her other cellmates. A police officer approached her with a set of keys in his hand, shaking his head in disbelief. “I don’t know how you managed to get out of trouble, but you’re free to go.”
Free to go?No freaking way.
Her hands wrapped around the cold, metal bars of her cell and she smiled, though she knew the sentiment didn’t reach her eyes. She hadn’t smiled genuinely in so long, not since all of this began.
“What do you mean? Someone posted my bail?”
That didn’t make any sense. She hadn’t even bothered to call her dad, who was probably out on another bender anyway, and her brother was unreachable, deployed to an undisclosed location. He couldn’t have pulled any strings on such short notice to get her out of this, even if he’d known what kind of mess she’d gotten herself into.
No one knew she was here but Stephen.
The officer shrugged, unlocking the door and opening it for her, his lanky frame blocking half of the exit. “Charges were dropped. I take it you have friends in high places.”
Evie took a healthy step back from the now open door, immediately wary of this new development. It had to be a trap, orsomething. She didn’t have friends in high places. She didn’t have any friends. Only enemies, and she’d no doubt pissed off one of them earlier in the day.
Shit, shit, shit.
The officer rolled his eyes, stepping aside to give her a clear exit. “I haven’t got all day, Ms. Chambers. Come this way or stay here and rot.”
Unease skated up her spine and Evie knew, without a doubt, that stepping outside of these walls would come with a heavy price. Her freedom was going to cost her everything. Couldn’t she just close the door again and lock herself inside?
Don’t be an idiot. Just leave and reevaluate later. I can’t stay here forever.
Evie followed the officer to a woman who was sitting behind a counter smacking on a piece of gum and scrolling through obnoxiously loud videos on her phone. The sign above her head read ‘Out Processing’, and there was already a small bag sitting on the countertop that Evie recognized as her own belongings.
The woman barely looked up to acknowledge Evie as she approached the counter, handing her some paperwork and a pen before glancing back down at her phone. “Sign these to acknowledge you’ve been released and have received your material possessions.” She blew a bright pink bubble, popping it with her teeth as she pointed casually to a door on Evie’s right, oblivious to the way Evie’s eyes widened in dread as she followed the movement. “Go through there when you’re done, and try not to land back here anytime soon, alright sweetie?”
Evie nodded mutely, not bothering to look through her bag to check if anything was missing. Everything she’d had inside was likely confiscated anyway due to the heinous nature of her crime. Besides, it wasn’t like she planned on using the pepper spray, rope, or taser again.
She scrawled a sloppy rendition of her signature, a direct contrast from her usual swirly masterpiece. In her defense, her hands had begun trembling uncontrollably since she’d heard of her release, her mind racing with thoughts about how she’d apparently gotten out of jail.
When there wasn’t anything to do except leave, Evie squared her shoulders, taking a deep breath and snatching her bag from the counter. She exited the police station through the main double doors, greeted by the afternoon sun and warm air. It had been midmorning when she’d been arrested. Evie figured she had only been detained for a handful of hours.
Barely any time at all.
A gentle breeze ruffled her longish blonde hair as she slowly made her way down the stone steps of the precinct, bringing a bit of life back into her curls, which had become flat after hours of captivity.
Police cruisers lined the front row of the parking lot, but it was the black, nondescript SUV idling just outside the main entrance that drew her attention. She paused, eyes narrowing on the vehicle.
She didn’t even have the opportunity to turn and run back up the steps and inside, demanding they toss her back in her cell, before the tinted back passenger window rolled down, revealing an older gentleman with graying hair and a fierce scowl.
“Ms. Chambers, I presume?” he asked haughtily, eyeing her up and down like she was scum beneath his boot.
