PROLOGUE
River
My toes kissed the edge,eyes glassy from the amber-colored whiskey burning through my veins. Unshed tears pooled on my bottom lashes trying to free themselves as I pushed them back and steeled my mangled heart.
What other choice did I have?
I was broken beyond repair.
Tarnished in a way nobody would ever love.
The dark hues of blue and black lined the midnight sky, the wind rustling around me in a whispered chant that sunk into my damaged soul. My blurry gaze looked down to the glistening water below as something unseen softly called out my name, urging me to plunge into the abyss and surrender.
Two more steps and I wouldn’t suffer any longer.
Just a couple more inches and the torment would end.
I held on for seventeen long, treacherous years: through loneliness, disappointment, and abuse. And by the grace of God, I’d managed until now to avoid the one incident I knew could throw me over the ledge,literally,and snuff out any life leftinside me.
Like a candle, the light within me flickered, attempting to extinguish itself forever…
Because my most sacred moment was ripped from my body without choice.
My hand shook as I brought the bottle to my trembling lips and let the whiskey slide down my clogged throat, suppressing the scream working its way to the surface as my worst nightmare slammed into me with more force than a crashing wave.
I swayed back and forth on unsteady legs as I was transported in my mind back to that horrific moment as if it were happening all over again. The vivid images scorched my tear-filled eyes.
Squeezing them tightly shut, rivulets began to spill down my cheeks, picking up speed as the dreadful sounds, ghastly words spoken, and the excruciating pain inflicted on me, hit like a sledgehammer, knocking the air from my lungs.
Spots floated in my vision as I struggled to suck in oxygen. But why? There was no reason to breathe any longer.
I didn’t want to feel his hands on me, the way my body felt as if it were ripping into two or smell the stench of his sweat as it dripped onto my skin. Nothing could ever remove the filth that coated every inch of me.
I just wanted to feel nothing.
Nothing atall.
Taking my drink of choice—the one I’d stolen from the bastard’s stash—I downed the contents. It lined my queasy stomach and burned like battery acid, but it would do the trick.
It was liquid courage.
This wasn’t the first time I’d considered ending the shitty life I’d been dealt. But instead of a call for help—ones that had gone unnoticed, chalked up to teenage drama—this had a finality to it that the other times had not.
I blew out a shaky breath and slowly slid the toe of one of my second-hand, black combat boots over the edge of the bridge, sending tiny bits of gravel tumbling into the pitch-black water many feet below.
Would anyone out there even notice I was gone?
Would anyone care?
My mind screamed a resoundingnojust before…
“Please don’t do it, sweet girl.”
It was the sound of an angel.
Myangel.
Chapter One
