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Prologue - Part 1

London—Twenty Years Ago

DANNY

I could s e bin at the back of the burger bar I raided daily My frantic hands were digging like y chips and bread to find the good stuff When Iup into my filthy face, I very nearly looked to the heavens in thanks But I didn’t, because if there was a god, I wouldn’t have been ruh a bin like a tramp

I was pretty sure bacon had never looked so good, and the piece I’d found had the remnants of melted cheese srowled hard I shoved it pastway too soon I should have savored it Who knehen I’d find another piece of heaven like that, because, let’s face it, who took off the bacon on a bacon cheeseburger? It was my lucky day

Dusting offa tiny bit at the sharp pain inup my T-shirt, one of only two I had which was three sizes too small, even for e

“Bastard,” I ly blend of purples, yellows, black, and blues I was a dense fool He’d told me to trust hiot his beer The moment I held out the can, he’d taken it and proceeded to poundthe actual beating It was afterward, when I had escaped the arsehole and was no longermyself numb, that the pain kicked in Part of me knehen I took what he dished out without so rier But I learned years before that I got satisfaction in knowing I frustrated hi He’d never see my pain Never Not even when he pinned me face first to the kitchen table and shoved his dick in my arse

I picked updown the alley toward thecold affected me anymore I was hardened Used to the slow torture that wasa T-shirt, half ripped up one side exposing rees, and I couldn’t feel a da

I justcalled The voice should have made me break into a sprint and run away But instead, I turned, finding Pedro, a boy from the posh estate up the road He was flanked by his usual crew of five, all kids better off than me It wasn’t a hard feat Pedro was Italian His fa where I’d often scavenged The first tiht me From that day, Pedro made it his mission to make my life miserable Or even more miserable

The six boys circled me, and I passed my eyes over each one I wasn’t scared In fact, I was more in awe of their clean clothes and their brand-new trainers They were all Italian Cousins, I think But Pedro was the leader of the gang, and he was also the largest by a clear foot, both in height and width

“Find anything tasty, little tra to the bin I had just crawled out of His cousins started tittering, like they hadn’t heard him ask me the very sa My reply wouldn’t have changed the outcoht er encounter So I stood and waited for hi down for the second tirin icked as he leaned in and sniffed ust “Well?” he prompted