Excerpt 1:
“Mr. Storm, you may think that you’re above the law, but I guarantee you that you are not! This is the fourth time I’ve seen you in my courtroom in the last three months. It’s become a bad habit, one that I don’t appreciate. I don’t care how much you’re paying your group of attorneys. It’s not getting you out of trouble this time.”
“Your Honor—”
The judge did not take kindly to Tanner Storm’s interruption. “Do not make me add contempt of court to your list of crimes,” Judge Kragle said. “The conditions of your building are unacceptable. I’m absolutely appalled that you’d leave women and children with no heat, with no working elevators, and with leaky pipes. I’ve thought long and hard about your punishment—”
Excerpt 2:
After a week in the hospital, she’d been released, with nowhere to go where she felt safe. After dropping out of school — she couldn’t face anything or anyone — she’d found herself at this apartment, both her place of refuge and a spot where she hoped to heal someday.
She knew it wasn’t her fault that her family was gone. But why was she the only one to live? Why wasn’t it her mother, who did charity work, or her father, who made a difference in the world through his teaching? Why couldn’t her brother have survived? He’d graduated from high school the previous June and planned to join the military after college. He’d have been an officer and a gentleman.
Excerpt 3:
Kyla jumped at the sound of Tanner’s quiet voice. They hadn’t said much at all since she’d returned to his apartment to find him ready to go. And now she’d been so lost in her thoughts that she’d forgotten his very existence.
Was this a mistake, she wondered, coming here on Christmas morning? If so, when would be the right time? If she was going to do this, now was as good a time as any.
Because her fingers were shaking too badly to insert the house key in the lock, Tanner gently took it from her hand, set it in the keyhole, and turned. The sound of the long-unused lock clicking open seemed louder to Kyla than a rifle shot. He didn’t touch the knob, just waited to see what she would do next.
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