The Highlands Series Complete Boxset

Prologue

SLOANE

Fourteen months ago

If I told anyone I was sick of palm trees and sunshine, they’d think I wasn’t in my right mind, especially since I was someone people described as having a sunny personality.

However, I’d been sick of the monotony of endless summer since I was fourteen.

My dad afforded me the sweet taste of travel as a kid, and it had made me long for something different. To be anywhere but in LA.

You know what they say—the grass is always greener. Literally. Grass in my part of town dried up. Not just because of drought, but because no one around here had time or resources for such things as lawn maintenance.

I’d never wanted to be anywhere else more than I did as I stopped outside my apartment door and saw the eviction notice posted to it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whispered hoarsely, pinching my nose to stop the sting of tears.

An overwhelming powerlessness threatened to seize hold of me.

I fought through the panic tightening my chest, thinking of the little girl on the other side of the door.

Had she seen this? Or had Juanita shielded Callie from the truth?

Dread settled in my gut. My Callie might appear shy and quiet, but she was sharp as a tack and missed nothing.

It made trying to shield her from the crappiness of our circumstances extremely difficult. But I was determined.

Bracing myself, my stomach roiled as I snatched the eviction notice off the door.

Today I was fired from the receptionist job I’d lied my way into. A colleague who’d had it in for me from the beginning looked into my claim that I’d worked as a receptionist for another casting agency. She knew someone at said agency, and they told her they had no record of me ever working there.

So, I got fired, even though I was more than competent at my job.

Yeah, I knew the lie was wrong, but when you’re a single mom, you’ll do just about anything to make enough money to put a roof over your child’s head.

The irony of being fired from a casting agency for lying on my résumé was not lost on me.

The agency lied on people’s résumés all the time.

I’d spent the rest of the afternoon using most of the gas in a tank I couldn’t afford to refill, following up on ads I found on my phone for positions.

Out of ten, one—for a receptionist at a beauty salon—offered me an interview.

I took it, even though they paid way less than what I’d been earning, and I was already behind on my rent.

Exhibit A: Eviction notice.

Even renting in Crenshaw, in one of the cheapest studio apartments I could find, where my kid didn’t even have her own bedroom, I was behind on my rent.

Because my useless, scumbag ex forgot we existed half the time.

In a perfect world, he would forget we existed, period. His reputation preceded him, and the man I’d stupidly had sex with at sixteen and gotten pregnant by had become someone so dangerous, I barely recognized him.

I’d never regret my Callie.

I only wished her father was someone different.

Someone I didn’t have to track down and beg for money, even though knowing where that money came from made me nauseous. But for Callie, I’d not only throw pride out the window, I’d throw my morals out too. I’d do anything for her.

So I called Stacie.

It was a short, snippy call. Afterward, I took a deep breath, opened the apartment door, and walked into the studio. During daylight hours, it was light and bright and airy. Even with our twin beds crowding half the space, we tried to keep it as nice as possible.

I buried my worries and grinned at my kid like I had none.

“Mom!” Callie dropped her book and launched herself off her bed, hurrying across the apartment to throw her arms around me.

Love and determination filled me as my daughter rested her head against my chest and I wrapped my arms around her.

Bending, I pressed a kiss to the top of her blond head.

When she was a baby, I’d felt overwhelming love for her, but I’d felt overwhelming terror too.

I was only a kid myself. What did I know about raising a daughter?

The love had grown to impossible depths over the years, and the terror became manageable, sharpening in moments like this.

Callie pulled away to stare up at me with the only beautiful thing her father gave her—big, gorgeous blue eyes.

I smoothed her hair off her face. “How was your day, baby girl?”

“I won the class spelling bee. Ms. Francis thinks I should join the school team.”

My smart girl who, somehow, would be in the fifth grade next semester. I didn’t know where the time had gone. “Congratulations! I’m so proud of you.” I took her arms and danced with her on the spot, making her giggle. “Does that mean I get to come see you in competition?”

“Yup.”

“Sloane.”

Juanita’s voice drew my gaze. The best thing about this apartment building was that it came with Juanita.

She’d seen us moving in on the first day and we got to talking.

When I mentioned I was concerned about Callie taking the bus home from school and staying in the apartment until I got home, Juanita had offered her babysitting services.

Her husband, Eli, worked nights and their kids were grown, so she said she had time.

Though she charged less than other babysitters, I still couldn’t afford her.

But Callie’s safety was all that mattered to me. Hence why I was behind on rent.

We shared a look, and she gave me a small shake of her head.

Relief filled me. Somehow, she’d kept the eviction notice from Callie.

“I know you’ve stayed longer than usual tonight, but could you give me another hour?”

“Where are you going?” Callie scowled up at me.

My smile was reassuring. “I promised a friend I would help them with something tonight. But I’ll be back soon.” I looked at Juanita.

She frowned and jerked her chin toward the door. “A word outside, mija.”

Despite my tension, I offered Callie another kiss on the head and told her to return to her book.

My daughter stared suspiciously up at me but did as I bid, and I thanked God for giving me a child as easy as Callie.

She’d been the quietest, most chilled-out baby, and she was the sweetest kid.

I often wondered if that meant she’d be a hellion as a teenager because no one could be that lucky with their child.

However, that was a worry for the future. I had enough to be concerned about in the present and was grateful Callie’s behavior wasn’t one of them.

As soon as we stepped outside, Juanita turned on me. “Everyone who has passed your door will have seen that eviction notice. You can’t hide that from Callie for long.”

“I know, and I don’t intend to. I’m going to get the money.”

She narrowed her eyes. “How?”

“I need you to watch Callie so I can pay her father a visit.”

Alarm filled Juanita’s eyes. She knew who he was because I’d told her. But she also knew who he was because he was now a high-ranking soldier in a gang that primarily traded in drugs and chopped cars. “You are not going after him at night.”

“I called Stacie. She told me where to find him.” Reluctantly.

We’d been friends when I was still with my ex.

But when I left him and tried to start fresh for Callie, Stacie called me out for thinking I was better than her, than them.

For wanting to get away from that life. That I’d never really stopped being that spoiled rich girl from Beverly Hills.

“Where is he?”

“He’s at some house party in West Adams. She texted me the address.”

“You are not going alone at night to a house where that man and his thugs are. No way.”

Though I appreciated Juanita’s concern for my safety more than I could say, I couldn’t back down. “I need to find him. And while I hate that I need to, the one upside to being his kid’s mother is that he won’t let anyone hurt me.”

“No, he likes to leave that job to himself.”

I flinched and looked away.

“I’m sorry, mija. I just worry. Wait for Eli to get off work. He’ll go with you.”

“I’m not dragging Eli into this. Please.” I clasped her hands in mine. “I don’t have time to argue. I need to find him, get the money, and get home to my baby girl. Will you please stay with her until I get back?”

Sensing my stubborn determination, Juanita reluctantly agreed.

A few minutes later, I was in my car, hands trembling as I clipped in my seat belt. Using the map on my phone, I slowly made my way toward the house in West Adams.

There were people sitting on hoods of cars parked curbside, others drinking in the yard, and music boomed so loud from inside that I’d heard it as soon as I turned onto the street.

I wouldn’t give up Callie for anything in the world.

She was my world. Every action I made was in service to loving her.

But that didn’t mean I wasn’t angry at my past self.

Furious with that hurting sixteen-year-old who wanted to punish my father for ignoring me and marrying a woman half his age who hated me and made me feel like a stranger in my own home.

I’d started partying at fifteen.

I met my ex at sixteen at a club where I’d used a fake ID to get in. He was eighteen, charming, from the wrong side of the tracks. All that cliché stuff that appealed to me because I knew my father, lawyer to the stars, would hate him the most.

I didn’t intend to get pregnant.

Or get kicked out of my own home for refusing to give up my child for adoption.

Or end up with an abusive criminal.

That’s why I left my ex. Though in his mind, I was still his.

One day, I’d save enough to get Callie and me as far away from him as possible.

Sucking up my courage, I got out and rounded the hood, ignoring the catcalls from a couple of guys leaning against their car.

I stepped into the yard, and a tall guy with a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants blocked my way.

“Who the fuck are you?” he shouted to be heard over the music.