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yet…”
    His voice whispered to her through the past, and she wrapped her arms around herself to stave off the chill. The mantra her therapist had drummed into her raced through her mind. She latched on, repeating it over and over until her breathing returned to normal. For her to black out in the Captain’s office—hmmm. Not a good plan.
    I am a tree and my roots grow deep into the earth
    Nothing can shake me
    My feet hold me firm and I take my energy from the earth
    Nothing can harm me.
    “You know.” Her voice was thick. She heard it, and she didn’t care.
    “I do.”
    “How?”
    His eyes were kind when she glanced up. “I told you, Detective. There are no secrets here. It came up when I did a search for related crimes searching the back database.”
    “Who else?” A spike of adrenaline shot through her. God. That was all she needed. Tampon jokes were bad enough. Now she’d have to deal with even worse if this got out.
    “No one else knows. I redacted the file and replaced it.”
    “You can do that?”
    “No,” he cleared his throat and looked away. “I can’t, but I did. There were some awful things done to you but I also know this: you don’t stop when you start a case. If this one feels personal, it is.”
    Linnet shivered. So personal she couldn’t believe it. “I’ve been following it a little. How many now?”
    “This would be number seven. All of them submissives. All of them brown hair, brown eyes.”
    “Like me.” Correction. Like she had been.
    They’d never found the bastard. He’d apparently been thrown out on his ass and that was it. Until the police report they took at the hospital when they did the rape kit. The people at the club didn’t even get his real name. He might as well have been a ghost. She eyed the scars on her wrists from where the straps cut into her flesh. The rest of her body bore similar flaws. But the worst thing? He’d taken something from her that she could never replace.
    Gage.
    When she’d woken up in the hospital, she didn’t want him to see her. At first it was because she blamed him for letting her fall prey to her nameless attacker. Then as the years went on and she went through therapy she understood what it really was. She didn’t want him to witness her ruined body. She was scarred inside and out, and she couldn’t bear to see the pity in his eyes. He was there in her dreams. It would have to be enough. She didn’t need that part of her life anymore. At least that’s what she told herself. But she’d always regretted running away and not speaking with Gage.
    So she’d made up her mind never to be weak again. To take back control of her life one piece at a time. Therapy led to an awakening that she wanted to be a cop. She could catch bastards like the one who had hurt her. The Sex Crimes unit was the logical choice. Now here she was, the case she’d been dreaming of staring her in the face.
    It had to be him. God.
    Captain Ramkin met her gaze. “Are you up for it? ’Cause if you’re not, I’ll let Dean and Graceling keep tripping down the rabbit hole. They don’t know what they’re doing, and I need someone who understands the ins and outs of this world to make a difference.”
    “What if it’s him?” She let the photograph flutter back onto the desk where it joined other images so profane it hurt to look for long.
    “What do you remember?”
    Linnet swallowed. “Everything.”

Chapter Three
    “Hello? Earth to Linnet…” Jonesy tapped the glass of the driver’s side door, and she almost wet her pants.
    “Dammit, Jonesy! You’re going to give me a heart attack.” The panicked beating of her heart slowly subsided to a more natural rhythm, and she flung open the car door. As she did, the Texas air sucked out the air conditioning and replaced it with a swampy humid mess. Lost in her memories, she didn’t even hear him get out of the car.
    “Missed.”
    “I won’t next time.”
    “Got you off your butt, didn’t