Copyright © 2015 by Jessica Prince
All rights reserved.
Visit my website at www.authorjessicaprince.com
Cover Designer: Najla Qamber, www.najlaqamberdesigns.com
Editor: www.hottreeediting.com
Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
OTHER BOOKS BY JESSICA
THE PICKING UP THE PIECES SERIES:
Picking up the Pieces
Rising from the Ashes
Pushing the Boundaries
Worth the Wait
THE COLORS NOVELS:
Scattered Colors
Shrinking Violet
Love Hate Relationship
Wildflower (coming January 2016)
THE LOCKLAINE BOYS (A LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP SPINOFF):
Fire and Ice – Griffin and Pepper’s story (coming April 2016)
Untitled Book #2 – Richard and Delilah’s story (coming July 2016)
DEADLY LOVE TRILOGY:
Destructive
Addictive
Obsessive (coming soon)
OTHER TITLES:
Nightmares from Within
To Jacob,
Because of the random things you say, Mommy will always have something funny to put in her books. I love you with all of my heart!
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Navie sat on the dirty, trash-covered floor in the living room of the rundown apartment she lived in with her mother. Knees pulled tight to her chest, she rocked back and forth as she stared out the grime-covered window. The sun was slowly falling from the sky, making the room darker and darker with every passing minute. She’d tried flicking the switch that was supposed to turn on the ceiling light, but when she flipped it up, nothing happened.
None of the lights in her house would come on.
Tears streaked down her face as she kept her dark eyes trained on the window, hoping and praying her mother would return soon. It wasn’t unusual for her to wander off with the man who stayed with them after they’d snorted that white stuff off the table, or poked their arms with those sharp needles. But she’d never stayed gone for so long. She knew Navie was scared of the dark. She wouldn’t have left her all by herself when nighttime was falling. Something had to be wrong.
The darkness in the room turned to a deep black so heavy she couldn’t see anything at all. It wasn’t until she’d cried her tiny body into exhaustion that she’d finally managed to fall asleep.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Navie jolted awake on the living room floor, her little body quaking in fear as the front door rattled on its rusty hinges.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She tried her best to keep her sobs quiet, but she was so scared that it was the mean man who always came to see her mother. She hated the mean man. He always broke things and hit her mommy, yelling about money every time he came. She really hoped it wasn’t him. He’d be so mad if he discovered Mommy wasn’t home.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Police department,” a deep voice called through the flimsy door. “Open up.”
It wasn’t the bad man. It was the police. Police were supposed to help you. They helped find people and arrested bad guys. With a desperate cry of excitement that she was no longer alone, Navie jumped up from the floor and rushed to open the front door.
“Have you found my mommy?” she shouted as soon as the door swung all the way open. The tall man in a dark blue uniform looked down at her. His smile was kind, but there was something behind his eyes that looked a little sad.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” he spoke as he crouched down to Navie’s level. “I’m Officer Michaels. What’s your name?”
“N-Navie,” she stuttered shyly.
“Navie, like the color?”
She gave a barely discernible nod as she looked at Officer Michaels through her lashes.
“Well that’s a really pretty name.”
“T-thank you. Mommy said it’s ‘cuz my eyes are dark, just like my daddy’s.”
“Is your daddy here, honey?” he asked.
“No. Mommy said he went away before I was born. Do you know where my mommy is? She left a long time ago. She should have come back, but she hasn’t yet. It got dark and I’m scared of the dark, and none of the lights would turn on. Did you find her?”
Officer Michaels stood to his full height and scanned the room before him, his jaw ticking with concealed rage as he took in the disgusting condition of the apartment the poor little girl was obviously living in. Chances were, if the mother had been there right at that moment, he’d have lost complete control of his anger.
What kind of woman raised a child in filth? Better yet, what kind of woman abandoned her child, leaving her scared and alone through the night? If they hadn’t received a call from a concerned neighbor informing them that there was a kid alone in the apartment, who knew how long Navie would have been by herself?
“No, sweetheart,” Officer Michaels spoke in a low, soothing voice. “We haven’t found your mommy. But we’re gonna take really good care of you, okay? You’re not going to have to be alone anymore.”