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it had really chapped Danny’s hide.
    It’s not like he gave a shit what she did in her private life. There was no way he’d ever start something up with the woman – fuck, no  – but it pissed him off she could chat it up all sweet to a total stranger when she’d barely been able to speak a civil word to Danny in eighteen months.
    Danny, who was her brother-in-law’s best friend and partner.
    Danny, who had been a rock for Stella during some rough times with Nathan last year.
    Danny, who had scared the shit out of the guy who had roughed-up Fiorella. Danny, who had never been anything but polite, friendly, and helpful to her entire family.
    Danny figured there was only one explanation: his very existence offended her to her snotty, judgmental core. Obviously Stella had told Kat some wild stories she’d heard from Nathan and Kat had decided Danny didn’t live up to her high moral standards.
    Well, screw her and the high horse she rode in on, then.
    Danny had never apologized for his choices and he sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. Especially not to her .
    But then he thought about her disease and instantly felt like a huge asshole.
    It was a horrible disease…a disease that for some stupid reason Danny sometimes spent hours thinking about. And Googling.
    Yeah, MS was some serious shit and Danny had decided a long time ago that Kat’s pain and struggles entitled her to pretty much do whatever she wanted, including being a huge bitch to him.
    But her MS didn’t explain why she was nice to everyone but him.
    Because you don’t fool her. Because she, more than anyone else, sees right through your bullshit, right down to your repulsive, rotten core. Because you are as worthless as she thinks you are and she’s the only one with balls big enough to be honest to your face.
    Some sudden, seriously ugly self-deprecation veered Danny’s thoughts right back to childhood…back to the filth of his parents’ shithole and their neglect, the abusive foster homes, and the quiet despair of state-run juvie.
    Back to things that had happened and shit he’d had to do to survive.
    Danny’s eyelids snapped open, heart pounding and a light sheen of sweat coating his body. He forced himself to register the cool softness of the sheets against his skin, see the light from the TV flickering, and identify the bulky forearm clutching the pillow as his own.
    Danny kept his eyes open, focusing on the muscles of his forearm, when all he watched to do was squeeze them shut.
    I am not a little boy anymore.
    I am not weak anymore.
    I am no longer at anyone’s mercy and I sure as fuck have no reason to be scared.
    I own this home, own that car, and make my own money. I will never be at anyone’s mercy again.
    Not physically.
    Not financially.
    And not emotionally.
    Not ever again.
    But the truth was those empowerments mattered very little in moments like these, when the past felt more real than the present and there was no one there to convince him otherwise. Or to just hold him and tell him everything would be okay. That no one could hurt him again.
    That he was safe.
    Wanted.
    Loved.
    It was a dream – a fantasy – he’d had ever since he could remember. A fantasy that had gotten him through thousands of long, uncertain days and cold, terrifying nights. A fantasy he still clung to, despite knowing he was far too old to believe in fairy tales.
    The reality was no one was coming.
    They never had and they never would.
    He was entirely on his own.
    He always had been…and he always would be.

Chapter Four
    ‡
    K at heard the deadbolt lock turn and a few seconds later Fi slipped through their front doorway covered in snow.
    “Man, this weather will not let up!” Fi closed the door behind her, brushed the snowflakes from her long, dark waves, and stomped her boots on the doormat. She tossed her purse onto the couch and peeled off her coat. “I was so glad when Stella called and said you’d already driven home. The roads are