CHAPTER 1
April 28th
9:10 P.M.
Finally,she felt like she could take a deep breath.
It had been a whirlwind of action these last few months, starting when her best friend had been snatched off the streets.
Never in a million years would Teresa Dash have expected it to turn out to be this bad when Ava hadn't come home that night. Of course, she’d known any abduction was bad, but an organ trafficking ring would never have entered her mind if her friend hadn't told them herself that’s who had taken her.
Crazy.
And from there things only went from bad to worse.
But now her teammate Tobias’ new girlfriend Isabella was home safe and sound, the couple no doubt tucked away in Tobias’ apartment doing what new couples in love did. Same thing Ava and her new boyfriend Nathaniel were likely doing at the apartment in Prey Security’s building where Ava had moved to feel safer.
The complete opposite of what she’d be doing when the elevator finally reached her floor.
There was no one waiting for her in her apartment, despite the fact that she technically shared the place with Ava and their other best friend and Prey Security Cyber Teammate, Chelsea. Even after the organ trafficking ring was finally dismantled, it wasn't likely that Ava was going to move back in.
Not with how close she and Nathaniel had grown and the fact that Nathaniel was still an active-duty SEAL and didn't have the freedom to pack up and move. That meant Ava would be the one who would have to move.
While everyone knew her as practical and no-nonsense, there was one thing she struggled with.
Change.
Something she made sure people weren't aware of, because she didn't like to admit weakness. She was independent and she’d had to grow up quickly after her dad died and her family had been thrown into poverty. Since her mom had to work three jobs just to keep them afloat, Teresa had taken over most of the household duties, including caring for her two younger brothers, at the tender age of nine.
Despite how rough it had been, there had been one bright spot.
Well, there had been from when she was fourteen up until seventeen, when he dumped her at the very worst time in her life.
“Stop thinking about him, Teresa,” she muttered aloud. Glad no one else was in the elevator to hear her talking to herself. It was a bad habit her brothers used to tease her about, and one she’d done her best to hide from her best friends and roommates. Although she was sure that both Ava and Chelsea had heard her do it on several occasions over the years they’d lived together.
Thinking about the boy who had broken her heart was counterproductive. While they could all take a momentary breath and give themselves a tiny little break, this case was far from done.
Bringing down this trafficking ring was personal to Teresa and to all of Prey. It had been a mistake that would become their undoing when the trafficking ring had snatched a Prey employee off the streets. There was nothing she and the company she worked for wouldn't do to end the ring’s reign of terror.
Nothing.
But thinking about a long-ago broken heart wasn't going to help her.
“He wasn't who you thought he was, he wasn't who you wanted him to be,” she reminded herself as the doors to the elevator dinged open on her floor. It was empty, and she was glad because she needed to remind herself of all the reasons thinking about her ex was a bad idea.
Dumping her and breaking her heart was one thing, but to just cut off complete contact with her because she’d been gang raped was another. It was unforgivable, and she hated that sometimes when she was at her loneliest, she still wished he had been the man she’d dreamed of spending her life with.
“Well, he wasn't, and you need to get over it,” she ordered herself as she marched down the hall, pulling her keys from her purse as she did.
It was true, she really did need to get over it, but so far that hadn’t happened. Even though she was twenty-nine years old, no longer a traumatized and confused seventeen-year-old girl, she still shied away from anything that hinted at a relationship. She just didn't have it in her to hand her heart over to another person ever again.
Not a boyfriend anyway.
Her friends and her family had her heart, and she knew it was safe with them.
As she approached her front door, Teresa’s steps slowed.
Something looked off.
