I groaned at the vicious throbbing in my face as I awoke, carpet fibers scratching my cheek as I rolled to my back with a whimper.

I think my nose was broken.

“You should’ve stayed dead,” a female voice broke through the pain haze. I opened my eyes to find a beautiful woman with jet black hair and an impeccable figure staring down at me as if I were a contagious disease.

“Who are you?” I asked with a wince.

“I’m the one who sees that things get done,” she answered sharply, her gaze narrowing. “I’m not about to lose out on a fortune just because you decided to rise from the dead. That money belongs to me.”

“Again...who the fuck are you aside from a colossal bitch?” I repeated, swallowing the sickly taste of blood in my mouth.

She smiled. “Who am I? I’m fucking rich, that’s who I am.” But then the woman selected a framed picture from the credenza. “Isn’t this sweet?” she asked, drawing my attention to the happy family in the photo. My mother smiled back at me, holding an infant with a man standing behind her, his hand protectively on her shoulder.

I couldn’t hide my shock. I was looking at the one existing photo of my parents together.

I didn’t recognize the happiness in my mother’s expression. A sob caught in my chest at the realization that I’d never known my mother at all.

The woman let the photo slip from her fingers to shatter on the floor. “Oops. That’s a tragedy. Now I’ll have to buy a new frame. At some point. Do you know how nauseating it is to listen to your husband go on and on about the sainted Lily Burke? How she was cut down in the prime of her life? And the poor baby, Caroline, the prettiest little angel that’d ever been born? Fuck me, I wanted to puke but I tolerated the stories because I knew David was set to inherit the Burke fortune as the only living heir on the Burke side.”

Confusion cleared as I took a guess. “You’re my...aunt?”

“Auntie Bunny,” she confirmed with a fake smile. “But I think we can both agree that name would never suit me. I’m barely older than you for Christ’s sake and I didn’t put up with David’s incessant bullshit to walk away empty-handed. I have that fucker blow jobs whenever he wanted. I’m owed that money.”

I didn’t know if the pain was making me sick or the conversation but I suffered through it to buy time. I knew in my gut Dex would come for me and when he did, this bitch was going to choke on her teeth.

“Does my Uncle David know you hired someone to kill me?” I asked, scooting away from her sharp heeled feet. The fierce pain in my head caused spots to erupt in my vision but I refused to pass out again. “Or is this all you?”

“David wouldn’t have the balls to pull something like this off. It’s no wonder the man shoots blanks, he’s not man enough to do what needs to be done.” She sighed with open annoyance. “Good God, if David knew you were alive...he’d fucking weep. He’s such a pussy.”

My uncle wanted to know me. So many questions and all I had was this crazy, greedy bitch for answers.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Bunny laughed as if my question were absurd, answering, “Me? Hell no. That’s what the help is for. I paid good money to see this job done and I don’t accept failure.” She checked her diamond-crusted watch. “Your ride should be here any minute. Traffic can be a bear at this time of day.”

“Why did my mom fake our deaths?” I asked, needing to know. “Was my dad a bad man?”

“You think your mother had the wherewithal to pull this off?” she mocked with disgust. “You know your mom was bat-shit crazy, right? Mentally unbalanced is the PC term but let’s be real, her soufflé was a bit uncooked in the middle. Your mother didn’t do anything but go along with Richard’s plan.”

“How do you know?” I shot back, anger blotting out the pain. “You didn’t know my mother.”

“As often as David and your father talked about the poor, sweet Lily, I feel as if I did. Honestly, I tolerated the endless stories because I knew the pay-off would be worth it in the end. I had no fucking clue that Richard had set Lily and his precious daughter up in New York under different names so Lily could live without the pressures of being the wife of Richard Burke.”

Tears pricked my eyes as understanding dawned in the most heart-rending way.

Suddenly, I saw my mother’s actions in a different light.

My father had loved my mother so much that he’d protected her in the only way he knew how.

“Awww, it’s a sad story, isn’t it?” Bunny mocked, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, when that damn secret will was revealed, the truth came out that you were alive and well scratching out a mediocre life as a sub-par photographer and I knew something had to be done.”

“How did you find out about the will before my Uncle?” I asked.

“Because I was blowing the old fart for details on the existing will and I happened to be there when the courier delivered the second will to Edward’s office. Pretty fortuitous, actually.”

The door opened and a burly, heavily tattooed man walked in.

“You’re late,” Bunny snapped. “I ought to dock your pay for that.”

“Traffic—“

“Whatever. Take her. I’m done looking at her.”

The man lumbered toward me and I tried to bolt for the door but a wave of dizziness nearly sent me tumbling back to the floor.

The man’s hard grip curled around my arm and yanked me to my feet. “Let’s go, princess. Time to go for a ride.”

“I don’t want to go for a ride,” I protested. Going for a ride never ended well for the person or the dog being loaded up into the car. I dug my heels in and started scratching and biting. “Fuck you! I’m not going for a ride!”

“Watch the rug,” Bunny exclaimed as I was dragged forcibly from the room.

The sound of splintering wood startled us both.

“Jimmy, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll take your hands off my girl.”

I smiled through the haze of pain as Travis and my Dex entered the room, locked and loaded. “I knew you’d come,” I gasped, so happy to see my avenging bad ass with a look of pure fury in his green eyes. I would happily watch this thug choke on his own tongue. Squinting through my bleary vision, I told the guy smugly, “You’re so fucked” and I wasn’t wrong.

Lord in heaven, I was not wrong.