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- Herausgeber: Lorhainne Eckhart, INC.
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Serie: The Outsider Series
- Sprache: Englisch
After fifteen years of harboring vengeance, Diana Fulton returns to her hometown determined to confront the Friessen family who shattered her childhood. But when she meets Jed Friessen, she encounters a man of unexpected kindness and compassion, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew about love and revenge. As old wounds begin to heal, Diana must decide whether to cling to her anger or embrace the second chance at happiness that Jed offers. Dive into Fallen Hero, a gripping tale of love, forgiveness, and the transformative power of letting go.
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Seitenzahl: 269
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
FALLEN HERO COPYRIGHT © Lorhainne Ekelund, 2012, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Talia Leduc
Contact Information: [email protected]
FALLEN HERO
The Outsider Series
Book 3
LORHAINNE ECKHART
Contents
Keep in touch with Lorhainne
The Friessen Family Series Reading order:
The Friessen Family Tree
About this book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
The Search
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
What’s Coming Next
Other works available
The Third Call
About the O’Connells
About the Author
Series Available
Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist
Keep in touch with Lorhainne
Sign-up for Lorhainne’s Newsletter & Monday Blog
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The Friessen Family Series Reading order:
Click here to download the complete Friessen Legacy Series checklist and series reading order
The Outsider Series
The Forgotten Child (Brad and Emily)
A Baby and a Wedding
Fallen Hero (Andy, Jed, and Diana) with bonus The Search
The Awakening (Andy and Laura)
Secrets (Jed and Diana)
Runaway (Andy and Laura)
Overdue
The Unexpected Storm (Neil and Candy)
The Wedding (Neil and Candy)
The Friessens: A New Beginning
The Deadline (Andy and Laura)
The Price to Love (Neil and Candy)
A Different Kind of Love (Brad and Emily)
A Vow of Love, A Friessen Family Christmas
The Friessens
The Reunion
The Bloodline (Andy & Laura)
The Promise (Diana & Jed)
The Business Plan (Neil & Candy)
The Decision (Brad & Emily)
First Love (Katy)
Family First
Leave the Light On
In the Moment
In the Family: A Friessen Family Christmas
In the Silence
In the Stars
In the Charm
Unexpected Consequences
It Was Always You
The First Time I Saw You
Welcome to My Arms
Welcome to Boston
I’ll Always Love You
Ground Rules
A Reason to Breathe
You Are My Everything
Anything For You
The Homecoming includes FREE short story When They Were Young
Stay Away From My Daughter
The Bad Boy
A Place to Call Our Own
The Visitor
All About Devon
Long Past Dawn
How to Heal a Heart
Keep Me In Your Heart
Want to know how all the series are linked? Stop by my blog for all the details: http://www.lorhainneeckhart.com/what-is-the-reading-order-of-your-books/
Now Available at a specially reduced price, The Friessen Legacy Collections:
1) The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection
2) The Friessens A New Beginning: The Collection
3) The Friessens Books 1 - 5 Box Set
4) The Friessens Books 6 -8
5) The Friessen Books 9 - 11
6) The Friessen Books 12 - 14
7) The Friessen Books 15 - 18
8) The Friessen Books 19 -21
9. The Friessen Books 22 - 24
10) The Friessens Books 25 - 27
11) The Friessens Books 28 - 31
The Friessen Family Tree
Click here to download your copy of The Friessen Family Tree
About this book
—Another great book in this series and by this author. I am going to start reading The Awakening right after I am done with this review; I cannot wait! – Paula
—When life deals an innocent a bad hand, it isn’t surprising when they want revenge. This story handles the situation in a simple fashion. Turning anger and distrust into love. Well written, and a story which leaves you wanting to read more about this family. – Voracious Reader
—Deals with some social issues but never strays from taking a chance on love and overcoming insurmountable issues and losses to let the heroine find and claim true love against all odds. – Billie Miller
A love story of unexpected second chances.
Diana Fulton, a young lawyer, has returned to her hometown in search of revenge, never having forgotten how she was treated as a child, tossed into the system after she and her sister became collateral in a game between two powerful men, all because of the secrets and lies of her mother.
For fifteen years, she has remembered the Friessen name, the name of her tormentors. Despite the difficult hand she was dealt, she’s planned for the day she could exact revenge. The only problem is that nothing is simple and easy, especially when it comes to getting even. When she lands on the doorstep of Jed Friessen at his rundown ranch, she finds a man who is nothing like his cousin or uncle, and she begins to question everything she once believed.
In fact, Jed shows her kindness, compassion, and something else she didn’t believe possible: that a man could truly have her back. But the feelings of anger and distrust that have driven her for so long are filled with a promise she made to herself and her sister. Can Diana put aside her hate to see that the thing she hasn’t known she’s been looking for all her life is standing right in front of her? A man who loves a woman will do anything for her, but she needs to take a chance on love.
ChapterOne
Diana pushed aside the creamy lace curtain that fluttered in the breeze and gazed out on a yard adorned in pinks and frothy whites, with ribbons and bows and more flowers than she’d ever seen. The midday sun had turned the sky a deep blue over miles of open land. To Diana, this was paradise. Several long tables were draped with lacy white cloth, glasses stacked in pyramids. The waiters wore white shirts, and what she thought were a hundred wedding guests were all dressed in their Sunday best. Rows of white chairs faced a beautiful arbor covered with pink and white roses, with baby’s breath woven through the chain of flowers, a spectacular sight. Everyone was there: her groom, his family, and his friends in North Lakewood. But there would be no family there for Diana, and no father to give her away.
She let the antique lace curtain fall and stepped away from the window when her soon-to-be husband glanced up at her from the yard. The love in his eyes for her had never failed to take her breath away, and she had to remind herself where she’d come from. This wasn’t a dream but was so very real. That she would come back to North Lakewood had been a promise she made to herself, one of anger, one of retribution, one of justice, but she’d never imagined she’d find love or learn that there existed, in fact, men who were truly honorable, courageous. This man was her hero, who loved her so deeply and understood who she truly was. As she remembered what she’d survived, Diana knew what didn’t kill her had only made her stronger.
She would soon be Mrs. Friessen, marrying a man she knew would fight all her battles for her if she let him. He was a proud, strong man who would always have her back and always protect her, and maybe that was why she had to remind herself again that this was real.
She glanced in the antique mirror one last time. Tracing her finger under her eye, she wiped away a tear she hadn’t realized she’d shed, not of sadness but joy, the kind she’d never believed she’d feel. Her makeup was perfect, and as she took in her vivid blue eyes, she no longer saw the terrified, angry girl filled with such disillusionment and hate. Her fiery red hair was combed and pinned up in cascading curls, a shimmering white veil with roses fastened to the back. She smoothed the chiffon of her wedding dress down, feeling the tightness in her chest, again reminding herself this was real, when a soft knock on the bedroom door interrupted the thoughts she’d been left with for far too long.
She turned to the closed door, hearing voices and laughter outside.
“Diana, are you ready?”
She pulled in a breath and nodded to herself in the mirror as the door opened and a woman she barely knew offered her a kind smile before walking over to her, holding out a lovely bouquet of pink and white roses. Diana reached for it, feeling the joy and love.
“Everyone is waiting, I see,” Diana said. She took in the gorgeous bouquet as she turned back to the mirror and her image, again breathing in the scent of roses.
“They are. Are you ready?”
She made herself take another breath, shutting her eyes for a second, imagining where she’d come from. Then she turned, her skirt rustling, and felt a smile touch her lips from the joy she couldn’t hold back. “Yes, I’m more than ready,” she said. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment.”
ChapterTwo
FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER
Diana Claremont had been born thirteen years ago in a county hospital that had long since burned down. She had a mother, a baby sister, and no middle name. She’d asked her mother only once why she didn’t have one, as all the kids at school did, and her only response was “Don’t be ridiculous.” She had a name: Diana. There was no reason for a middle name that would never be used. Diana’s mother, Faye Claremont, wasn’t the kind of woman who cared what others thought. She didn’t spend time with her daughters, baking cookies or tucking them into bed, and she didn’t give a damn what they were thinking or feeling or whether they followed the rules society laid out.
From her earliest memory, it seemed Diana had always looked after herself and stayed out of Faye’s way. She was grateful the fall days were still warm enough that she could run barefoot down to the creek, exploring the thick forest behind her house and then lying in the long grass, dreaming of any life except her own. In those moments, she could believe in fairytales and princes and dashing knights on horses, hoping one day soon a prince would ride in and take her away from this life. Then she would open her eyes and breathe in the reality of empty cupboards, always guessing what mood her mother would be in, and a hollow ache inside she could never fill.
She sat up, feeling the pull of her frayed cutoffs and worn mud-brown t-shirt. She had scrawny legs and arms and thick, long red hair that she could never tame. She breathed in the sweet scent of the remaining fully ripe blackberries as she sat in the middle of a field under the bright sun and cloudless deep blue sky. Towering green treetops shaded the carpeted path that wound through the thick forest behind her house to that big open field. Paradise was where she could hide out, watching her four-year-old baby sister, Louisa, in a faded yellow dress, picking juicy plump berries and shoving them in her mouth.
Louisa didn’t have her red hair, and her eyes were a different shade of blue, but then, Diana didn’t know who Louisa’s father was. For that matter, she didn’t know who hers was, either. Her stomach rumbled, again wishing for something other than berries to fill the empty hole. But the milk in the fridge had gone bad, and she knew the Chinese leftovers in a carton were for her mother, who’d been fast asleep when they left, having stumbled in and passed out, drunk, after closing out the bar, Diana figured. She’d learned long ago never to wake her.
Diana knew before long they would have to go home. As the sun dipped lower, so did the fall coolness, but for a moment, Diana fantasized about something better, a happy mother who would offer a smile, who would be up in the morning to fix breakfast, say good morning, and maybe, just once, tell her how much she loved her and her sister. A mother who would be there for them, talking, listening, caring, instead of the disinterested Faye Claremont, whose many moods Diana had learned to navigate long ago.
“Louisa, come on, we have to go,” Diana called out, brushing the grass from her cutoffs. She hurried over to her sister just as she shoved another berry in her mouth, the black juice staining her dress and her face. “Oh no, Louisa, Mama is going to be mad.”
But she knew her sister didn’t understand. She stared up at her with vacant eyes, a little girl who knew Diana’s name and only a handful of words. Her mother called her stupid, but Diana knew it was something else. Her sister took pills every morning for seizures she’d had since she was a baby. Diana wondered whether that was why she screeched at times and couldn’t be reasoned with. She reached for her hand and pulled her along, hurrying down the trail barefoot toward the older two-story cedar house with its sagging porch and rotted windows.
She hurried to the door. The old hardwood floor was splintered and worn here and there. Diana knew enough of her mother’s moods to understand that one look at Louisa and the blackberry mess would have her ranting, furious. Messes were something her mother never wanted to clean up. The screen door squeaked, and so did the floor.
“Diana, where’ve you been, girl? Get supper started,” was all her mama shouted from the only bathroom, which they all shared. “I’m meeting Mr. Friessen at the carriage house, so I have to get going now. You know I don’t like to keep him waiting.”
“Sorry, Mama,” was all Diana said as she pulled Louisa over to the old double sink in the kitchen, where the porcelain was cracked and the faucet dripped. She turned on the tap and lifted her sister, very aware her mother was still in the bathroom, primping, putting makeup on just as she did every evening before she went out. She heard a clatter and knew she was likely curling her long deep red hair. Diana washed off the sticky blackberry juice from Louisa’s hands and face, then reached for the worn old dishtowel by the sink and dried her.
She strode down the hall to the bathroom, where the door was ajar. Her mother was shadowing her sky-blue eyes and adding thick mascara. A rolled cigarette burned by the sink, and the smell of weed was thick in the air. Faye was already in a tight black skirt and four-inch heels. For a second, she flicked her gaze directly to Diana in the mirror. It was never lost on her how beautiful her mother was. At the same time, that one look told her that whatever mood her mother was in, it wasn’t a happy one.
“You’ve been gone most of the day, Diana. You been up to something you shouldn’t be?”
What was she supposed to say? “Just playing in the forest, picking berries…”
“Fine, fine,” Faye said. “Listen, I’m going to be late. Todd Friessen is taking me to that new steakhouse, one of the best in town, and I’ve been dying to try it. He really does love to spoil me. You mark my words, Diana: A wealthy man like Todd Friessen is our ticket out of this hell. One day, I’ll be his missus. I deserve that, and by God, I will have it. Being his wife will make me important in this town, and then I’ll look down on all those cackling gossipy women who’ve trash-talked me behind my back and slammed the door in my face. Yes, sir, you can bet I’ll have the last laugh on them when I’m married to a man who owns all Todd Friessen does. The power he has in this county will be mine. You mark my words! Okay, how do I look?”
Her mother didn’t look at her but at the mirror. Diana had heard all the cruel, hurtful whispers and names. People called her mother trashy, from the wrong side of the tracks, and had even muttered that the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Diana thought they had been talking about her looks, but she realized their words were meant to sting. She knew Todd Friessen had a wife and a meanness that could turn on a dime when he didn’t get what he wanted. She’d heard too many times from the locals that Faye was his new plaything, not that she’d known what that was, though she’d heard enough from her mother’s bedroom and the squeak of the bed springs to figure out what Mr. Friessen was doing with her before going home to his wife.
“You look great, Mama,” she said. She knew her mother didn’t want to hear anything else.
Faye looked down at her, letting her vivid blue eyes linger over her. “I saw you making eyes at young Andy when he showed up the other day with that bike for you. That was really kind of him to buy it. I hope you thanked him properly. I don’t want Todd thinking you’re ungrateful, you hear me? I see the way you look at Andy, all googly eyed. He’s damn handsome, just like his father, graduating this year. I heard he’s dating the mayor’s daughter and is expected to marry her, too, so don’t be setting your sights on him.”
It was the slap that seemed to always come from her mother.
“He won some cowboy thing,” Faye continued. “Todd was telling me about that. Young Andy has had his fun, playing around in the rodeo, but his father’s got plans for him. He’s letting him play around a bit before he sends him off to college and then gets him settled into politics. Maybe he’ll be running the country one day. His son is sowing his wild oats, is all I told him…just like his father.” She let out a sigh and then laughed.
Diana wanted to set her straight on so many things about Andy Friessen. “Andy is a rodeo star, Mama,” she said. “He won the men’s cutting challenge and all around. It was his second year winning it. He’s really very good! And I didn’t ask for the bike. I caught my pants in my bike chain, and Andy stopped when he saw. He said the chain was rusty and tried to fix it…”
The way her mother was staring down at her made Diana stop talking. The fact was that Andy had rescued her, freeing her pants, and even pulled open his toolbox in the back of his pickup and tried to fix the rusty chain on the old bike, someone’s castoff. Then he’d tossed her bike in the back and driven her home. She hadn’t shared that part with her mother. The day after, he’d driven up in his pickup with a brand-new red bike for her, and it was on that day, from his kindness, that she’d sworn she’d love him forever. She found herself looking for his pickup every day now and hoping for a glimpse of him.
“I do the best I can, Diana,” Faye said. “I hope you didn’t whine to him and ask for it. You get what you get and make do with it.” For a moment, she thought her mother was mad at her, and she wished she hadn’t mentioned Andy now.
“Of course I didn’t,” she said. “I told you, he just bought it for me. He’s nice.”
Her mother only nodded and made a face. “Damn good looking, too. Tall, dark, and handsome, just like his father. He’s a catch and then some. Why, if I were ten years younger, I’d be showing young Andy a thing or two…” Her mother smiled at her image in the mirror and let out a soft laugh again.
The knot tightened in Diana’s stomach. She wasn’t a fool; she knew what her mother was suggesting.
“No, Andy is all Todd talks about, thinks about, has plans for,” Faye said. “He says everything he does is for his son. But I see all the women who are chasing Andy down, hoping he’ll notice them. Yes, he’s a catch.” She tapped the chipped old yellow bathroom counter with her hand. “Okay. I cleaned this bathroom up again, so you make sure Louisa stays out of my makeup. She was playing in here yesterday with my face cream and made a mess, and you know I don’t like that, cleaning up a mess I don’t have time to clean. Keep her out of here. Cook up some of those frozen burgers in the freezer for dinner. Pretty sure the bread is gone. You’ll have to eat it without. Oh, damn! Forgot my necklace…” Her mother slapped a hand to her chest, her long nails painted deep red, and then hurried out of the bathroom. Diana listened to the click of her heels as she went up the old wooden stairs.
Diana walked back out to see her baby sister sitting on the floor, chewing a crayon. “No, no, Louisa…” she called out and ran over, barefoot, to take the yellow crayon and wipe the bits from her mouth. She reached for the only coloring book Louisa had, on the old coffee table that had come with the house, and opened it to a page that had barely been scribbled on. She put the crayon in her hand and said, “Color me a picture. Don’t put it in your mouth.”
“How do I look?” Faye called out from the stairs, where she teetered on dark red heels, now in a red skirt and a red sequined halter. Apparently, she had changed, as well. She really was beautiful.
“You look great, Mama,” Diana said. Faye had a one-track mind when it came to men, and as of late, it was all about Todd Friessen.
“I’m leaving,” Faye said. “Bye, darling. I’ll be home when I’m home. Again, do not make a mess I have to clean up.” She bent to brush a kiss on Diana’s head and dashed out the door without a glance at Louisa.
Diana watched through the window as Faye hurried to her new Jeep, deep red, striking. She still didn’t know where she’d gotten the money to buy it, considering there was never enough money for food, but she figured it had something to do with the pills she packaged up at the kitchen table. There were nights she’d been woken by her mother arriving home with people she didn’t know. The booze flowed, and the drugs came out, along with music and carrying on into the wee hours of the morning.
As the Jeep backed out down the narrow, heavily treed driveway, Diana wondered what surprises she’d be in for tonight, strangers and partying or Todd Friessen in her mother’s bedroom?
At the same time, as she stared at the dust, all that remained of her mother in the driveway, she wished Andy Friessen would once again drive in and check that she was okay, tell her the rumors of him dating the mayor’s daughter weren’t true. One day, just maybe, he’d come courting her and would take her away from all this, her hero. She may have been only thirteen, but there was something about Andy Friessen that made her swear she’d love him forever. And maybe, one day, she prayed, she would be his wife.
ChapterThree
Something shattered and clanked. Diana bolted upright in bed, listening to the familiar drunken cursing of her mother, feeling the chill from the cool fall night. She glanced at the bedside clock, which read 1:10 a.m.—early for Faye. Her mother made no effort to be quiet as she stumbled around, but then, she never did when she brought the party home.
Diana listened for another voice, another sound, as she slipped out of her warm bed. The temperature was dropping, and she shivered as she crept toward the old wooden stairs and stood at the top in her thin pajamas, expecting to see half a dozen people smoking and drinking. But she listened, and there was nothing, no one else. Maybe that was why a sigh of relief slipped past her lips as she started carefully down the stairs.
“Mama, you’re home early,” she said.
Faye wobbled on her spiked heels against the island of the dingy old kitchen. She reeked of cheap booze, and instead of cigarette smoke, Diana thought it was the familiar stench of weed, something else she wished she didn’t know, that lingered in the air.
Her mother yanked open the old, rotted cupboards. They were mostly bare of food. “Where’s that sister of yours?” she slurred.
Diana wanted to snap, Asleep, of course, which is where I should be, as it’s after midnight. But that would earn her a cuff, as her mama never would stand for any back talk, so she bit her tongue and calmly said, “She’s asleep, Mama. I put an extra blanket on her, as it’s colder tonight. Do you know when the oil tank will get filled so we have heat?” That was another thing her mother hadn’t done, and Diana was beginning to worry, as the nights were growing colder.
Her mother didn’t turn around as she teetered on her heels. Her mascara had smudged under her eyes, and the way she looked at her, Diana often wondered whether she hated her. Faye waved her hand as if she didn’t know or care about keeping them warm, or fed, or anything Diana figured a mother should want to do.
“Got other things on my mind, Diana. Always have some problem landing on my doorstep. You want to tell me who you’ve been talking to?”
There it was, that feeling as if the rug were about to be yanked out from under her. Her mother stared at her with a meanness that had always terrified her. Diana’s stomach knotted again, and she couldn’t get her tongue to move. This was the unpredictable mother she didn’t understand, and she knew she was fishing for something.
“Cat got your tongue there, girl? That damn social worker came sniffing around today when you were at school, asking a whole lot of questions about Louisa, about you, looking around as if she had the idea I wasn’t looking after you. Then she demanded to see your sister. You been talking to any of them counselors at school again, telling them things about me you shouldn’t have been?”
Diana felt her face tingle as she struggled to think of what she might have said. She was always careful at school, never saying much any time they pulled her out of class, asking too many questions about her mother, about whether she talked to her father, where she lived, and whether her little sister had been seen by a doctor. Why did they focus in on her?
“You won’t answer, girl?” Faye swayed and stumbled closer, most likely ready to strike.
“No, Mama, I haven’t talked to anyone. You know how they are about you being a single mother. They’re looking to dig something up, is all. I said nothing.” There was also the fact that her mother had looked like a two-dollar hooker the few times she’d been called in to sign something for Diana at school.
Faye swayed again, obviously satisfied with what she’d said. The strap of her barely decent black sequined top was ripped, and her skirt was stained with something brown as she stumbled to the table and sank into an old wooden chair. Dropping her head on her arms, she burst into tears and screeched as if someone were trying to kill her. This was always the killer for Diana. She walked over to her mother and pressed a hand to her deep red hair, running it gently over the waves. Faye whimpered and turned toward her.
“Do you think I’m beautiful, baby? Do you think men still find me desirable?”
She knew what her mother wanted to hear, and it wasn’t the truth. Damn, she didn’t want to be talking to her mother about men. She was just a kid who knew too much of the darker sides of what went on between a man and a woman. All she’d ever wanted was a mother who was there for her and Louisa rather than looking for a man to latch on to and fix all her problems.
“Of course you are, Mama. Any man would be lucky to have you.”
Faye smacked her hand away. Sitting up, she tossed her head back and snorted a deep, throaty laugh. Diana hated when her mama got like this. Her moods would swing high and low, worse when she was drinking, worse still when she popped pills or smoked or snorted whatever she could get her hands on. Tonight, Diana could tell she’d done a little of everything. She could see it in her face, her eyes. Unpredictable, dangerous, wild.
“Mama, are you hungry? There’s leftover macaroni in the fridge. I can heat you up some.”
“No, I don’t want no dinner. I want something to drink. Where’s the liquor?” Faye started to get up and staggered, losing her balance and dropping back on the chair. Her mother was so far gone, and soon she’d pass out. It was always the same. Diana tried to think now whether her mother had ever been sober for a meaningful length of time.
“Mama, I’ll get it for you. You just sit there.” Diana hurried to the open cupboard by the old fridge, which held half a bottle of gin, the bottle of pills her sister took every morning, and nothing else. The bottle of juice in there had been gone a week earlier. They needed groceries, food, but this wasn’t the time to bring it up. She reached for a glass in the dish drain and put it down in front of her mother.
“You’re a good girl, Diana, but that damn idiot sister of yours is bringing trouble to my doorstep, having social workers sniffing around as if they really care about her. Stick her in some home with some pedophile and nobody would care. But not you. You always look after me. If it weren’t for you, I’d pack up and leave. Yes, I would. Some days I wish I could just leave here and never look back. I never asked for this life.”
Diana turned her head, blinking back tears. She didn’t know what she’d do if her mother abandoned her, and she feared that one day, Faye wouldn’t come home. And Louisa, so defenseless—she wondered if her little sister knew how much her mother hated her. Why had the social worker shown up? Every day she went to school, she left her sister alone with her mother, who it seemed had always been angry, a woman with a sixth sense for others’ misery. She could never let her mother know how much she hurt her, or that cruel side of Faye would move in for the kill, saying even crueler things she’d never remember in the morning.
