The stench of stale beer and sweat hung heavy at the post-game party, a ghost from a life I thought was behind me.
I stood in a quiet corner, trying to disappear as the music vibrated through the floor.
My ex-boyfriend Liam' s best friend, Kevin, suddenly plowed through the crowd, his face stark with raw panic.
"Ava! You have to help. They took him!" he screamed, his words a horrifying echo of a past I' d desperately tried to escape.
He begged me to rescue Liam from the black van, reminding me of all the "stuff" my dad taught me.
But in my first life, answering that call plunged me into a thirty-year nightmare: a soul-crushing marriage to a man who resented me, a daughter who mirrored his coldness, and ultimately, a lonely death while they escaped.
This time, I just told him to call the police.