Just 12 hours ago , she was a single mother barely scraping by, squeezing her daughter into the service elevator of a downtown skyscraper because the police had fired her at the last minute. Now she was surrounded by armed men in tailored suits , positioned right behind the most ruthless leader of the East Coast criminal syndicate. And yet, the most terrifying thing wasn’t the approaching mortal danger.
It was the enormous engagement ring with a diamond that weighed him down in his left hand.
The radiator in Sereña Jenkins ‘s tiny apartment let out a mournful hiss… and shut off completely. It was barely 6:00 in the morning , and the December chill was already seeping in through the poorly sealed windows. Sereña was standing in the kitchenette, staring blankly at the staring screen of her cell phone.
“I’m so sorry, Serena,” Mrs. Gable’s voice, her older neighbor and housewife, crackled through the cheap loudspeaker. “My sciatica is horribly bad. I can barely stand… much less chase after sweet Lily today.”
