as she stood on the curb outside the estate, the g
black car. She needed a drink. She needed to
round club in Manhattan, hidden beneath a shuttered laundromat, accessible
he bass hit her instantly, a low, primal throb that
or-neon lights slicing through the artificial fog, bodies pressed
y toward her without asking. She tipped her head back and swallowed the burning liquid in o
dered
en watching since she walked in-the way her trench coat hung off her should
he empty seat next to Ansley. He flashed a greasy
swirling his glass with delibe
Ansley grew drowsy but stayed sharp enough to clock the threat. Her instincts, honed o
ly to one side. She rested her elbows on the bar, her forehead
mouthful of yellow, crooked teeth. He reached
key glass. Her fingers locked around the thick crystal. I
ove, a deafening c
so hard they shattered the adjacent glass
dn't fade-it died. The DJ threw his hands up and backed away from the turntab
on of their movement, the cold deadness in their eyes-it sent a shockwave of pure intimidation through
eople pressed themselves against the walls in pure, anim
eared path, a man st
all
ate up the distance with unhurried, predatory strides. His face was carved from ice-sharp
h the shadows and l
in the chair. He saw the t
ammed against his ribs with a force th
The ghost who had slipped through his fingers a decade ago, leaving behind no
egrees. He marched toward the bar, h
en have time to
o's wrist. A sickening, wet crack echoed in
of garbage. The thug crashed into the bar counter, glasses shat
locked out all the light, casting her entirely in his shadow. He stared down
dded, defiant eyes-and even drugged,
tricted. He remembered that look. I
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