Prologue
Lanaya sucked in a pained breath as she lay on the freshly waxed wooden floor of her foster parents' home. She suspected a few broken ribs, but couldn't be sure. The amount of injuries Lanaya got on a daily basis became too many to count as the days kept passing by.
She coughed, and a mouthful of blood splattered onto the floor. Oh crap.
"Fucking bitch!" She was violently wrenched back with a hand in her hair. "Bleeding on my floor, you fucking whore!" Her foster father gave her a hard kick to the stomach, making her fall back onto the ground. A sharp pain in her wrist had her crying out before he grabbed her by the hair again and dragged her across the floor.
Lanaya's head smashed against the wooden coffee table as the form of her foster mother, sitting on the couch and pouring herself a glass of red wine came into view. She cocked her head to the side and serenely leaned forward . . . only to smash the bottle into Lanaya's forehead, red wine splashing everywhere.
She stumbled back, her vision clouded with the wine and something hot and sticky. She gingerly lifted her hand to her head to clear her vision, but her hand came away with a much darker red than wine. Above her, Lanaya's foster father stepped into her vision and gave her a calm smile. The one that charmed the paparazzi and was on the cover of every Tennis magazine in stores. With that same, serene smile, he bent down and grabbed her face in the palm of his hand, only to smash her face into the coffee table.
Over and over and over again.
A muffled bang in the background had her foster father stopping and dropped her back to the ground. She heard arguing then something that resembled a gunshot. Her foster father was no longer standing above her, and the ceiling had a deep red stain on it.
I could've sworn that wasn't there before.
Lanaya blinked, her heartbeat coming slow and sluggish. It was hard to concentrate. She blinked again, only to open her eyes to a man crouched above her. She couldn't see clearly but Lanaya knew that this man was gorgeous. But then again, so is the devil. Against her better judgment, Lanaya's eyes slid shut and darkness swallowed her, promising her eternal rest.
