Page 1 of Brutal Prince

Prologue

Life isn’t fair.

Life is fucking cruel.

But we only get this one, so we have to make it count. You can’t dwell on the past. You have to look ahead, count your blessings, and make plans for the future.

That’s what my mother used to tell me, when I was sad because my best friend moved out of town. When I had to have surgery to remove my tonsils. Then, a year later, my appendix.

She’d always have faith that a better day was just behind the horizon.

Go to sleep, my girl.

Have pleasant dreams.

Tomorrow is a new day.

My mother was raped, tortured, and murdered last week during a home invasion. The sadistic criminal who did it then set fire to our home.

Where was I?

At a party, getting drunk and trying to lose my virginity.

It’s been eight days, fourteen hours since my mother’s beautiful soul left this earth. Life should have been easier by now, but it’s not.

See…Mom lied.

It doesn’t matter how many times I go to sleep, I don’t have pleasant dreams anymore.

When I try to count my blessings, I come up short.

My plans for the future?

I don’t have any.

When I look ahead, all I see is darkness.

I’m waiting for that bright new day you promised me, mom.

Because tomorrow still hasn’t come.

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