Page 41 (1/2)

Chapter 1

~Hunter~

Soet older That as your children age, you settle into a nice rhythm in the day-to-day, worry less, enjoy more

Whoever said that is a fucking liar Or never had kids

I’ve been a single dad for fifteen years Not once in that time has it been easy

“Where the hell is she?” I , ready to enjoy a beer and a basketball game

Rachel, the apple of ht But when I open the app on my phone to track her phone—an app she doesn’t know I added to her device—it tells me that she’s not at Kyla’s house at all

“Maybe they went for ice creaut that they didn’t just innocently go out for dessert

Rachel’s always been a good girl, but since she hit puberty a couple of years ago, she’s made it her mission in life to test my patience

Hell, I retired froone less Sure, at thirty-six, s, but fighting is all I know I’ve been in the ring since I was younger than hter

It’s not about the ht, or the sponsorships I don’t give a rat’s ass about the attention or celebrity—much to my publicist’s dismay

It’s about the rush of being in that ring with another man, the skill it takes to outwit and outmatch him

Training for and being in the ring is

But age and responsibilities dictated that I walk away That, and the very real possibility that it could kill me

Fucking head injuries

If it weren’t for Rachel, I would have continued fighting until I died in the ring

The only thing I love hter She’s the priority She used to come with me when I traveled and then stayed behind with my parents when it became too much for her, and she needed to be in school

But now she’s toointo trouble

I don’t want her to be like me

So, as I stare at the blinking red dot on h

I need to go find hter

I set the untouched beer on the kitchen counter, grab my keys, and leave my Seattle home in search of the one person on this planet that makes me want to yank my hair out

According to the hborhood that I know is residential And when I slow my Rolls Royce in front of the brownstone, I scowl

It looks like sohties movie A whole bunch of cars line the street, and thecan probably be heard all the way don at the Space Needle