ke''s reflexes were razor-sharp.


    Before he could hit the little girl, his foot mmed down on the brakes,ing to a screeching halt.


    The front bumper stopped just inches from the girl''s frail, trembling body.


    The piercing sound of the brakes split the quiet night, startling the little girl.


    She jerked her head around.


    Through the rain-streaked window, a pair of wide, luminous eyes-bright as stars -locked onto ke''s inside the car.


    Their gazes met.


    Startled by ke''s icy, intimidating expression-the kind that could freeze over a thousand winters—the girl looked like a frightened fawn. Her big, beautiful eyes went round, her legs gave out beneath her, and she copsed onto the wet pavement.


    It was impossible to tell if she was shivering from the cold rain soaking her or from sheer terror at ke''s presence.


    ...


    Inside the car,


    Even after that near-miss, ke''s features remainedposed and frosty.


    He was the most notorious "Ice King" in the city''s legal world-a man said to be born without the capacity for normal human emotions.


    But in the instant his eyes met the little girl''s, his pupils dted.


    For those few seconds, her eyes looked so much like Yara''s.


    Realizing he''d let himself think of Yara again, ke''s gaze turned even colder, his emotions locked down tight. The ripple of feelingsted only a heartbeat before he returned to his usual, impassive self.


    After watching the girl copse, he pushed open the car door, grabbed an umbre, and stepped out.


    Long legs hit the ground, and he strode to the front of the car, stopping just half a step away from the little girl.


    He looked down.


    His gaze was indifferent as he regarded the soaked, trembling child on the ground -certain she was faking an injury for money.


    He pulled a crisp hundred-dor bill from his wallet and tossed it at her feet. His voice was as cold as steel. "Take the money and go."


    He knew perfectly well he hadn''t hit her.


    But the girl had thrown herself in front of his car with practiced ease.


    ke had heard about these scams before-kids of all ages, some as young as this one. Some were runaways, others used by adults. It was nothing new.


    He just never thought someone would try it on him.


    If she hadn''t been so young, he wouldn''t have even given her a hundred dors.


    ...


    Katy, who had been sitting on the ground with her head down, stared in disbelief


    at the hundred-dor bill on herp, her eyes going wide.


    Her cold, tiny fingers snatched up the bill and clutched it tight.


    She knew that a red bill meant a hundred dors. A hundred dors could buy her and Mom so much bread-they could eat for days.


    This man not only owned a car, but he could also just hand out a hundred bucks without a second thought.


    To Katy, that meant he was rich-really rich.


    She was seared of ke, but when


    she thought of her mom lying sick at home, she mustered her courage. As ke bent to get back in his car, she


    scrambled up and threw her arms


    around his leg.


    "Mister, my mom is really sick. Please, can you lend me eight hundred dors?


    Katy will work hard to pay you back!"


    She''d collected so many bottles and boxes this month...


    ke''s eyes grew even colder at her plea.


    He regretted giving her that hundred.


    Kids like her, he thought, were shameless and maniptive.


    His voice turned cial. "Let go."


    "1


    "Please, mister!" Katy clung to him like he was her only lifeline, falling to her knees.


    ke shifted his leg.


    He knew he could shake her off easily-she was so tiny and weak.


    But then he looked down at those big, pleading eyes.


    In the end, ke leaned into his car grabbed a handful of crisp bills. from


    his


    200


    he didn''t even count


    the


    m-and tossed them ontd+


    girl.


    Katy finally let go and hurried to scoop up the money from the ground.


    She was too young to feel humiliation; all she knew was that this money could save her mother''s life.


    ke took the chance to get back into his car.


    He hit the gas, and the car sped away.


    Katy had just managed to pick up thest bill when she saw his car disappear down the street.


    "Mister, you didn''t leave your phone number!" she shouted into the rain.


    The car didn''t stop. So she used all her strength to yell after him, "Mister, I''ll wait for you here tomorrow!"


    Tomorrow, if she sold off all the bottles and boxes, she''d be able to pay him back


    a little.


    After making her promise, Katy


    grabbed the money and her


    umbre, then dashed off down the


    blto the drugstore, to buy her


    mom''s medicine.  fo