PaytonRunning away from home at 17 wasn’t easy. Let’s face it though, nothing before, or in the ten years since, has ever been easy for me.And I’m doing okay. Sorta. I just need to keep scraping by, living under the radar. Staying out of people’s way, off people’s minds.So when a man walks through my open patio door, stepping boldly into my home, and my life, I should be scared. Frightened. Terrified.But I must be more broken than I realized, because I’m none of those things.I’m intrigued.And I’m wondering if the way to take control of my life is by giving in to him.NeroThe first time I took a man’s life, I knew there’d be no going back. No normal existence in the cards for me.So instead of walking away, I climbed a mountain of bodies, and created my own destiny. By forming The Alliance.And I was fine with that. Content enough to carry on.Until I stepped through those open doors, and into her life.I should’ve walked away. Should’ve gone right back out the door I came through. But I didn’t.And now her life is in danger.But that’s the thing about being a bad man. I’ll happily paint the streets red to protect what’s mine.And Payton is mine. Whether she knows it or not.