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Chapter 1

“Girlfriend, you need to relax.” Olivia Jackson gave her co-worker’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “We won’t be able to get through this if you don’t. You want me to pray for you?”
Judi Irving inhaled and pretended to busy herself inside her battered locker. Prayer was her co-worker’s answer to everything.

“Uh, that’s okay,” Judi mumbled, mostly to herself. “I’m fine.”

She stripped off her purple Big Buy blazer and stuffed it inside the locker. The second she’d entered the room, the pain swelling her feet went from uncomfortable to unbearable. Her body’s way of rebelling against another twelve-hour shift.

Olivia took a step closer to Judi, as her eyes crisscrossed the empty locker room. “Did you bring the documents?” she asked.

“Not here!” Judi whispered, her voice tinged with panic. She had told Olivia a thousand times. It wasn’t safe to talk about their lawsuit at work.

Judi was a fit, strawberry blonde, who usually masked her worries with a pleasant smile. Today she felt anxious and frayed. She stared up at the ceiling. She wouldn’t put it past Big Buy to have listening devices or even video cameras hidden in the locker room.

“You worry too much,” Olivia said, raising her right hand as if preparing to take an oath. “Not a soul can be against us because Jesus is for us.”

At only 33, Olivia spoke with the confidence and zeal of a Baptist minister. She had skin the color of slightly burnt straw and a body stacked with curves. Her tell-it-like-it-is personality significantly heightened her five-two frame.

“Ida can’t meet us tonight,” Judi said. “So you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see them.”

It baffled Judi how Olivia could be so fearless in the face of what they’d just done. Two weeks ago, they’d filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against Big Buy, the largest discount chain in the state of California. Fed up with seeing women repeatedly passed over for promotions and subjected to crude, sexist jokes, Judi and her two co-workers decided to do something about it. The only way to make change, they’d agreed, was to shove it down the company’s throat.

The Big Buy documents Judi now possessed—documents Olivia was dying to see—should have emboldened her. Instead, they only heightened her fears.

Olivia’s face flushed with exasperation. “You’re way too paranoid, girlfriend. I’m praying for you whether you want me to or not.” She took both of Judi’s hands in hers, closed her eyes and bowed her head. “Father God, please protect and strengthen Judi for the battle we—”

Judi eased her hands from Olivia’s grasp and stepped past her, never meeting her eyes.
“That’s okay…I, uh…I gotta go.”

It was close to ten by the time Judi pulled her black Camry into the driveway of her modest rental house in Mar Vista. Unfortunately, being home did nothing to lift her spirits.
A year-long divorce battle that was still in full swing had left her emotionally drained. And now, her starving-actor boyfriend was exhibiting the same evasiveness herhusband had displayed right before he'd dumped her for a big-breastedbeautician. At 42, Judi was still picking losers.
She made her way inside and headed straight for the bedroom, longing for a hotshower and some deep sleep.

Phillip walked out of the attached bathroom, bare-chested and beautiful, his coal-black hair slicked back with a shiny gel. His grayish-green eyes matched the tint of his silk boxers.

Phillip barely looked at her. "Hey."

"Hey," Judi said back.

That had been the extent of their communications lately.

In the beginning, her affair with a 28-year-old she'd picked up in a bar had been nothing short of a thrill ride. At the time, a young lover was the boost her self-esteem needed. Now, it was simply a whopping mistake in judgment.

Judi undressed, while Phillip returned to the bathroom. It was close to five minutes before another word passed between them.

"You still going through with the lawsuit?" Phillip called out.

Judi snorted. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because it's a stupid thing to do."

Judi smiled. She relished this newfound power over her live-in lover. As the TV pitchman for Big Buy stores, Phillip feared her lawsuit might ruin his career—if you could call a few commercials, three plays and a B movie a career. He'd been constantly badgering her to drop it.

"Whoever sent me those documents doesn't think my lawsuit's stupid," Judi shot back.

The thick package had arrived in the mail only three days earlier. With Phillip peering over her shoulder, Judi opened it to find several dozen documents and a typed note: "Good luck with your lawsuit against Big Buy. These documents should help."

"You don't even know what they are," Phillip pressed.

True. They had both skimmed several pages and could see that they were financial records. Beyond that, they might as well have been written in Russian.

Judi had immediately left an excited voicemail message for her attorney. At the moment, Vernetta Henderson was defending a football player in a civil sexual assault case. As soon as that trial ended, their lawsuit against Big Buy would receive Vernetta's full attention. For now, the documents were in a safe place. Not even Phillip knew where she had stashed them.

"They're probably stolen," Phillip said, refusing to drop the subject. "What happens if you get fired?"

If I get fired, then you'll have to get a real job.

Judi should have kicked him out weeks ago, but she had a long history of letting men trounce all over her. Maybe that was why the Big Buy lawsuit meant so much to her. She was finally standing up for herself.

Having been out ofthe job market for most of her eight-year marriage, returning to retail had been her easiest option. She had expected a quick promotion, but soon realized the fast track at Big Buy was reserved for men.

"Can I borrow a few bucks?" Phillip asked from the bathroom.

"What's a few bucks?"

"A hundred?"

"I don't have it."

Phillip strode out of the bathroom. He had changed into jeans and a body-hugging sweater that showcased his muscular arms. "Stop being a bitch."

Judi charged up to him. "I told you not to talk to me like that. And where the hell do you think you're going?"

"I have a meeting with Harold."

"It's almost ten o'clock. Since when do you schedule meetings with your agent this late at night?"

"I have no reason to lie."

Those were certainly words she'd heard before. "Who're you screwing, Phillip?"

He threw up his hands. "I don't have time for this nonsense. Get out of my face." Phillip shoved her so hard, she stumbled to the floor.

Judi laid there totally stunned. Their arguments had intensified in recent weeks, but Phillip had never put his hands on her. The rage began to build as she slowly got to her feet.

"We're done. Pack your stuff and get out!" Judi shouted.

Phillip turned back around to face her. An ugly smirk marred his face. "I'll leave when I'm ready to leave."

Judi charged at him and gouged her fingernails deep into the left side of his face.
For several long seconds they both seemed stricken with paralysis.

Phillip finally pressed three fingers to his cheek. His eyes expanded as he stared at the specks of blood on his fingertips. Phillip's precious face was his bread and butter.

"You bitch!" he sputtered. "You scarred my face!"

He snatched Judi by the upper arms, lifting her high enough for her feet to dangle in the air.
Judi tried to wrestle free, but Phillip only squeezed harder. Sharp stabs of pain rocketed down her arms. "Let me go! You're hurting me!"

Phillip hurled her onto the bed, then bolted over to the dresser to inspect his face in the mirror. Three short, red gasheslined the left side of his face. He turned back to Judi, who lay coiled in the middle of the bed, sobbing.

"If you ever touch my face again," he seethed, "I'll kill you."

Snatching his keys from the dresser, Phillip stormed out of the room.

The sound of movement coming from the kitchen woke Judi from her sleep. She was still curled up in the same spot where Phillip had discarded her. She checked the clock onthe nightstand and was shocked to see that it read 3:27 a.m.

"A meeting with your agent my ass!"

She scrambled out of bed. Enough was enough. Phillip had to go. Now. Right now.
Striding into the hallway, she flicked on the light switch. No illumination appeared, but that did not halt her journey.

"Phillip! We need to talk!"

She stepped into the kitchen and pounded her fist against the light switch just inside the doorway. This time, when the light that should have flooded the room didn't, her body constricted with fear.

"Phillip, is that you?" Her voice was smaller now and had lost most of its bravado.
Judi sensed the presence of someone nearby and whirled around.

"Who's in here?" She could hear a loud, steady thud, but wasn't sure if it was her heartbeat or someone else's. "Phillip, is that you?"

She darted into the living room, each step compelled by an innate instinct to flee. Terror, however, had distorted her sense of direction. She was uncertain now whether the front door was to her left or right, north or south. She plowed clumsily through the room, arms extended like a mummy.

"Ow!" Judi yelped as her knee collided into the corner of a coffee table. She ignored the fierce pain and continued to hobble across the room.

When she finally made contact with a wall, she slapped the surface like a mime palming an imaginary window. Her hand found the doorknob and she fumbled with the lock before finally tugging it open.
Judi whimpered in relief as the cold morning air stroked her face.

Just as she was about to cross the threshold to safety, a hand gripped her shoulder and snatched her back into the living room. The door slammed shut as something hard and heavy careened into the back of her head. She crashed face-first into thewall. Blood gushed from her nose with the force of a geyser.

"Help! Somebody help me!" Judi screamed.

The intruder pinned her right shoulder against the wall and pounded her in the back of the head a second time. A heavy fog enveloped her senses, but Judi fought hard against her body's desire to give in. She flailed at her attacker, raising her left hand up and over her shoulder. When she felt skin, she grabbed and pinched and scratched. But her efforts did nothing to free her from her attacker's grasp.
Another hard blow to Judi's head sapped any remaining strength. She began to drift toward unconsciousness as her co-worker's earlier request flickered in her mind.

If only Olivia could pray for her now.