The distance between them closed, inch by inch.


    Their breaths tangled together, heavy and warm.


    But just before his lips met Evelyn''s, Brooks stopped himself, holding back.


    He gazed down at the softness so close he could nearly taste it.


    Brooks'' breathing lost its rhythm.


    His Adam''s apple bobbed involuntarily, tension thrumming through him.


    A storm of emotions flickered in his eyes.


    But in the end, the kissnded gently on Evelyn''s forehead-a feather-light touch.


    A whisper of a kiss.


    Gone before it could even begin.


    It wasn''t that Brooks didn''t desire Evelyn.


    On the contrary, he ached to be close to her.


    But he wanted their next step-any deeper intimacy-to happen when Evelyn was fully awake, fully aware.


    Halfway through the drive, rain began to fall, tapping insistently against the windows.


    Evelyn slept on, undisturbed by the storm outside.


    When the car finally stopped in front of Evelyn''s new ce, Brooks nced over and saw she was still sound asleep.


    He signaled for the driver to leave them alone.


    He didn''t wake her.


    Sitting so still for so long, his legs prickled with ufortable numbness, but he didn''t move, not wanting to disturb her.


    Instead, he picked up his tablet, slipped on his Bluetooth earpiece, and dealt with work quietly.


    Between emails and calls, he''d nce over at Evelyn, his gaze soft, simply waiting for her to wake up.


    At the hospital


    ke came to check on Charles.


    He brought thetest updates about Dahlia from the northern border.


    A little over a month ago―


    Dahlia had barely boarded the boat when she realized something was wrong. The route was all wrong, the opposite of what her phone''s GPS showed.


    The final destination her phone pointed to sent a chill through her: the northern border.


    Just reading those words made Dahlia''s skin crawl, a cold dread washing over her.


    She knew exactly what awaited her if she ended up there.


    Any joy she''d felt at escaping evaporated instantly.


    Out at sea, there was nowhere to run.


    She had nothing left but her body, and used it to please the three men on board.


    They were hardly going to say no-Dahlia had been their distraction, their ything, from the start.


    She yed along, did everything she could


    keep them satisfied, hoping


    to the northern border.


    as won them not to deliver her


    But they''d already made a deal with Brooks.


    Letting Dahlia go would mean crossing him.


    They weren''t stupid they knew which side their bread was buttered on.


    So, Dahlia was passed along, from one man to the next, all the way to the border.


    As soon as she arrived, she was shoved into apound.


    To survive, she weed every customer, doing what she did best charming, pleasing, enduring.


    She got through a brutal month this way, always waiting for a chance.


    She dreamed of something straight out of a movie: seducing a lovestruck


    supervisor, someone who could help her escape.


    She set her sights on one man.


    She put on her best act, used every trick she knew.


    And finally, it worked.


    He fell for her, enough to risk everything and arrange for her escape.


    In the moment she stepped out of thatpound, Dahlia felt, for once, that fate was on her side.


    As long as she was alive and free, there was hope.


    But she never expected that escaping thepound wouldn''t mean escaping the border.


    Charles had set things up in advance.


    hoolitsedons ran deep-he''d immediately. Content bowed"


    put out word that if Dahlia showed her face, she was to be reported


    Just as hope began to bloom, it was snuffed out again.


    Dahlia struggled, desperate and furious, tried to run.


    But she never stood a chance.


    She was dragged back to thepound.


    After a brutal beating, they wheeled her into surgery-someone had


    one Out, leaving her weaker than ever.


    With her kidney. They ne


    ut


    What awaited Dahlia now was the slow, systematic harvesting of every useful


    organ she had left.


    Charles listened to the news of Dahlia''s fate.


    He wished he could grind her bones to dust.


    But the anger he felt for her was matched only by the anger he felt toward himself for trusting the wrong person.


    One mistake had led to another, until there was no turning back, no way to repair what he''d lost with Eve.


    ke had dinner ns that evening, so he didn''t linger.


    He left the hospital and drove off into the rain, the city lights blurred by mist.


    As his car turned down a quiet side street, a small figure darted suddenly from an


    alley.


    She ran so fast she didn''t even see the car-she bolted right into the road.


    ke''s car hit her.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!