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PROLOGUE

This will be the last time

I’ve said that before I’ve said it a lot I’ve said it while talking to myself in a mirror like so a pool cue pressed against my throat by a crazed Ukrainianme his wife

It’s nice to know there’s still a first ti

Luckily, as the edges of led froet out of this alive Though it ony as the cue pressed into ei,arut, I found his balls

With one swift ged

Hard

Sergei screa me and the pool cue to the sticky floor I hopped up to ainst the side of his head as he was doubled over When I was a child, I was never in a town long enough to get enrolled in the softball teaainst the side of his bald head, I realized it could have been a second career

Hell, it could even be a first career I was quitting the grifting game anyway

Sergei iving birth, and though I had done sorabbed the eight ball from the pool table and chucked it at his head where it bounced off his forehead with a thwack that made my toes curl

For all the games I played, I’d always been a bit squeamish with violence That said, I’d never been busted by one of the in bride scam I chalked this up to “kill or be killed” Self defense Hopefully it would be the last time for that, too

Not that I was doing any killing here After the pool ball made contact with his head and caused him to drop to his knees with a screech, I turned on my heels and booked it into the ladies’ washroo men stationed outside of the door to the pool room, and they definitely wouldn’t lethis testicles were still attached

The ladies room s it had been since it was cleaned The Frontier wasn’t the sort of bar that wo out at, and that should have beenry The second was that no one even looked my hen I walked in the place It’s like they were expectingyou, you know you’re on so that should have tipped me off was the pool room was in a basement and there were an awful lot of locks on that door

But, as I balanced my boots on the rust-stained sink, I found there were no locks on the rectangularI slaust air, finding soggy dirt under my hands as the rain ca to become Mud Woman in a few seconds

Mud Woman was still preferable to Dead Woh the narro and onto theinto ei yelling his head off and pounding on the bathroom door

This had been a close one Way too close

I scrambled to my feet and quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed So far the bar looked quiet, the red lights fro rain The street was equally quiet and lined with Audis and Mercedes that stuck out like gaudy jewelry as My own car, which I reluctantly called Jose, was parked two blocks away I lad I still had my wits about me When an old friend emails you out of the blue and asks you to ht, you do take some precautions It’s too bad I hadn’t clued in that it wasn’t an old lover of e

I took advantage of not being seen and ran as fast as I could down the street,coldly By the tireen 1970 GTO sitting on the empty street, the rain had washed the mud clean off of me

I wipedOhio license plate It was tih the spare plates I had inside I knew I’d never set foot in Cincinnati again after this, and now that I knew this had been a setup, I couldn’t be sure they hadn’t noticedstrapped to the bottom of the driver’s seat—and apparently he was the type who’d follow up on that kind of thing He was the type that would hunt es This wouldn’t even be about the money anymore, but the fact that I pulled a fast one on hiin brides on OK Cupid?

Men and their stupid pride

I supposed he could try and hunt me down He could try and follow ot in Jose, he wouldn’t be able to find me I’d been hunted before and for a lot more than money

And they still hadn’t found me

Yet

Hearing distant but irate voices filling the air, I quickly opened the door and hopped in My instincts told me to just drive and never look back, and unfortunately I knew I had to listen I had to leave a-infused roo with Carlee for six rown on me