Page 37 of Sweet Sin

But it’s a train wreck. I can’t not look.

The door to my bedroom hangs on only one hinge as I walk through. My mattress is overturned and slashed open, and my sheets and comforter are ripped. All the drawers to my dresser are open, and my clothing scattered. My closet is ransacked, clothes torn and cut.

Then the bathroom…

My shampoo and conditioner has been squirted on the walls, and the mirror above the sink is shattered.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to ignore the flashback of shattering the mirror in the changing room at Falcon’s. Then plunging, plunging, plunging the jagged glass into a man’s flesh.

I breathe in, out, in again…but my heart…

My fucking heart….

It’s racing like a freight train… Racing…

Falcon’s fingers. Massaging my shoulders.

It helps.

And it doesn’t.

“Come on.” He leads me out of the bathroom.

And my gaze falls on—

“No!” I cry.

I didn’t see it before.

My photo of my brothers and me as kids that I keep on my bedtable.

The glass is cracked, the photo torn…

This wasn’t business.

This was personal.

They want me, and they’ll destroy everything I love to get me. But why? What do I represent, other than some convoluted alliance with my family?

“It’s personal,” I gasp out, choking back sobs. “It’s a message.”

Falcon nods. “I know, sweetheart. I know.” He turns me so I’m facing the door. “We need to get you out of here. The Shaws live next door, right? Let’s check and see if they heard anything.”

My heart is hammering as we head next door and knock.

No answer.

“Mrs. Shaw?” I yell. “Mr. Shaw? It’s Savannah.”

Falcon pounds on their door harder.

Still no response.

I open the screen door and check the doorknob. To my surprise, it opens.

“Why would they leave this unlocked?” I ask.

“A lot of people in small towns do that. It’s one of the benefits of living in such a place.”

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