Page 1 of Heartless Sinner

Chapter One

Scarlett

Messy little raindrops scatter across the windscreen of my car like tiny crystal bracelet beads. The downpour clouds my already hazy view of the road ahead.

I hate driving at this time of night, let alone in the pouring rain where my only source of light are the tunnel-shaped beams shining from my headlights and the dappled moon in the turbulent sky.

Shaking my head, I take a good look at the murky view before me. The winding mountain road blends in with the backdrop of the shadowy, jagged edges of the Rockies in the distance, and the forest of fir trees covering the expanse below it looks like an army of ghosts.

More rain pours down, heavier this time, and I know it’s going to be one of those nights when it storms for hours on end. A rough ending for today and a bad start for tomorrow.

Getting home is going to be a nightmare. So is getting back out to work for six in the morning. Driving in these conditions after a fifteen-hour shift at the diner—with little to no sleep forover a week—is definitely asking for trouble. Add in the fact that it’s nearly midnight, and I’ve cooked up a recipe for disaster.

Damn it.I should have turned down that extra shift. Robbie, that arrogant asshole, is always throwing work no one else wants my way.

He claims the men who head to the diner at night spend more money on booze and food when more pretty girls work the shift.

Prettyto him means girls with big tits and curvy hips.

The last time I considered myself pretty by normal standards, I had more meat on my gaunt body, my black hair actually had a sheen to it and was free of split ends, and my green eyes were a vibrant color and weren’t bloodshot.

Robbie offered me the shift because he thinks I fit the bill in the big tits and curvy hips department. And he knows I won’t say no to the money.

Honestly, I can’t blame him too much about the latter.He was just being a manager and he knows I need the money.

He was right. All I saw in my mind was an extra hundred bucks with the hope of getting more tips for the day, which I did. I wasn’t thinking of my safety. But I am now.

If I have an accident, no one will find me before morning. Out here in Leadville, the roads are deserted until first light.

Like with most small towns, people here tend to have a cut-off point at a certain time of day. They most certainly wouldn’t be out in hazardous weather conditions, so if I did have an accident, I’d have no hope in hell.

Dad would come looking for me. I know he would. But I wouldn’t want him out here at risk of danger, too.

I can just imagine some crazy scenario where I run myself off the road into the ravine. Then he comes looking for me and does the same thing.

Shit.Listen to me thinking something bad is going to happen and signing myself—and Dad—away to death.

A long, haggard sigh leaves my lips.

At the beginning of last month, I promised myself I wouldn’t do that anymore—the negative thinking thing.

Last month was February, so not exactly a pledge of New Year’s resolutions, but I put myself on a quest to get my life back on track and myself back into acting.

I’m so ashamed of the way I slipped off the radar and ended up splitting my time between waiting tables at The Happy Snappy Diner and cleaning offices with the Ever After agency.

After so many years of studying and hard work to fulfil my dreams to become an actress, I saw so much more for myself than what I am now. That’s why I’m more determined than ever to fight for my dreams.

In prep for the audition I did two weeks ago, I took myself away from the stress for a few days and head to Wyoming. I couldn’t afford the break but I wanted to give myself the best chance to prepare for the audition with that clarity of mind that always helps me.

The role was for a part in a new TV series similar toCSI. As they’ll be in production in Denver for the next three years it would be perfect for me. If I get the part it means being closer to Dad.

It would also mean no more working at the diner until my legs feel like they’re going to dissolve, no more asshole Robbie, and no more putting my safety at risk to make an extra hundred dollars.

While I was in Wyoming I did the whole positive-thinking-and-clearing-limiting-beliefs thing.

I got myself a copy ofAtomic Habits, subscribed to a mindset coach, and even gave myself a set of daily affirmations—something I’venevereverdone in my entire twenty-five years of existence.

I didn’t do it when my favorite college professor encouraged the class to incorporate it in our stage prep exercises.

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