Chapter One
Penny
I stepped off the city bus with leaden legs, my hand automatically reaching back to make sure the girls followed.
Four buses and nearly seven hours of travel with all the stops and waiting and…
stuff, had left us hollow-eyed and jittery.
Nashville sprawled around us, indifferent to our arrival, the late afternoon sun cutting between buildings to cast long shadows across unfamiliar streets.
A woman with vibrant red hair waited by the bus stop, her pale blue eyes scanning the disembarking passengers until they found us.
She raised her hand in a small wave, and something in my chest tightened.
This was our contact. The shelter worker. The next step in our escape.
“Penny?” she asked, her voice gentle but carrying enough to reach me over the bus’s idling engine. “I’m Violet. From New Beginnings. I believe we spoke on the phone earlier.”
I nodded, my throat too dry for words. Violet looked nothing like I’d expected.
No social worker beige, no clipboard, no practiced professional sympathy.
Instead, she wore jeans and a simple green T-shirt, her vibrant hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.
She looked a few years older than me, with pale skin that showed the ghosts of freckles across her nose.
A simple name badge with her first name and a picture with the New Beginning’s logo on it was the only way I knew she was here for me.
Zelda moved in front of Kira, her skinny shoulders squared, her small fists clenched at her sides.
I recognized her posture, coiled tight, ready to either fight or run.
Kira peered around her sister, clutching her threadbare rabbit against her chest, taking in everything with her quiet, calculating gaze.
“My car’s just over here,” Violet said, gesturing toward a small blue SUV parked against the curb.
“It’s not far to the shelter, but I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to bring any of your things.
Walking would almost be faster, but not if you had several things to carry.
” She smiled as she led us to her vehicle, unlocking the doors as we approached.
The girls sat in the back seat while I climbed in the front.
Violet fastened her seat belt once she was inside, turning over her shoulder to smile at me and the girls.
“No matter what situation you guys came from, no one in the world can promise you everything will be OK. But I can promise you that you’ll have the protection of both New Beginnings and our associates within the Nashville community. ”
“He’ll search for the girls.” I spoke softly, my voice rough. My heart pounded, the adrenaline hitting me unexpectedly. I’d really done this. I’d left Andy. The enormity of my situation threatened to crash over me, but I held myself tightly in check by sheer force of will.
“We’ll be ready. There’s a lawyer we work with.
I believe she’s the one who sent you our way.
She does a lot of pro bono work for women who come to us.
” Violet reached over and patted my knee gently.
“You’re not alone, Penny. We’ll help you in every way possible.
We’ll do that because, as the saying goes, it takes a village. We all have to help each other.”
I nodded my head, not wanting to cry, but Violet offered more than anyone else in my life.
“Thank you.” The interior of Violet’s vehicle smelled faintly of cinnamon and something citrusy.
Clean. Normal. It made my head spin, how normal it felt after the hours of tense hypervigilance.
I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep for a week, but I was wired on fear and caffeine.
“You must be exhausted,” Violet said as she pulled away from the curb, her eyes flicking to the rear-view mirror. “New Beginnings is just around the corner. We’ve got a suite ready for you.”
Her words floated around me like debris, not quite landing.
Each concept required effort to process, and I had nothing left to give.
I nodded again, my gaze fixed on the passing storefronts and street signs, mentally marking our route in case we needed to find our way back.
I needn’t have worried. We rolled through a chain-link gate not two blocks away.
My breath caught as the shelter came into view.
What I’d expected was something… I don’t know.
Institutional? Cinder blocks, barred windows, maybe a fence topped with barbed wire or something at the very least. What loomed before us was a renovated warehouse, four stories of weathered brick with large windows that caught the late afternoon sun. It looked solid, permanent. Defensible.
The grounds surrounding it were modest but well-kept, with small patches of grass and a few sturdy benches. A tall, heavily muscled man in a leather vest stood near the entrance, casually leaning against the wall. My fingers tightened around Zelda’s wrist.
“Don’t worry,” Violet said, following my gaze. “That’s Riot. He’s with the MC. They provide security and protection when any of our women need to leave the facility.”
“MC?” I asked, the abbreviation unfamiliar.
“Motorcycle club. They’re partners with New Beginnings.
They help keep our residents safe. In fact, this is their property.
They donated the building and helped with the renovations and security.
” She smiled at me in the rearview mirror.
“Give them a chance. No one gets into Kiss of Death MC without being a good man. Their president, Knuckles, won’t allow anything otherwise. ”
A biker gang. She was talking about a biker gang like they were the neighborhood watch. Had we jumped from the frying pan into the fire?
Sensing my disquiet, Violet reached over and squeezed my hand.
“Look. I can see Lana didn’t have time to explain everything to you.
She probably thought you’d back out if you found out about Kiss of Death before you got here.
Lana only sends us the women in the worst danger because the guys at Kiss of Death work with her to protect and support vulnerable women and children from abusive partners. ”
Violet parked the small SUV in front of the building. The thing was really huge. I had no idea how they had the place broken up into areas, but I had no doubt they could house at least a couple dozen women with children. Maybe more, depending on the room sizes.
“Here we are,” Violet said, pulling into a spot marked Staff.
“New Beginnings Women’s Resource Center.
We usually just call it Haven. Though we don’t advertise for safety reasons, we have a few good friends in the local and semi local justice system.
They send us women they believe we can help, usually ones with exceptionally nasty abusers. ”
I couldn’t help the snort of derision. “Exceptionally nasty abusers,” I echoed softly. “Pretty much sums up the situation.”
We all exited the vehicle and followed Violet through double doors into a small lobby where a woman sat behind a reception desk protected by thick glass. She nodded at Violet, then buzzed us through a second set of doors. I watched Violet enter a code on a keypad.
“Have you eaten?” Violet asked, her voice cutting through the fog in my mind. “There’s dinner at six-thirty, but I can have someone bring you something to your suite if you like. I know you’ll all want to clean up and rest.”
The thought of food made my stomach lurch. When had the girls last eaten? The vending machine at the bus transfer station, hours ago. A bag of chips split two ways and bottled water that the girls had sipped sparingly, making them last.
“We’re fine,” I said, my voice sounding strange to my own ears. Raspy. Distant. Anyone could tell I wasn’t fine but there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to fully engage. I was crashing. Hard.
“Mom’s tired,” Zelda said, her voice sharp with warning. Protective. Always protecting me when it should have been the other way around.
“Of course,” Violet said, her smile kind and a little sad.
“It’s a lot, I know. Zelda?” I hadn’t formally introduced the girls, but I was pretty sure the lawyer lady who’d gotten me into this place had given her a profile of sorts.
It didn’t surprise me Violet knew our names.
When my daughter nodded, Violet smiled. “We’ll get you settled, and you all can rest. I’ll bring you a hot meal.
“Everyone who works here has an ID badge,” Violet explained, tapping the plastic card clipped to her shirt. “All external doors are locked at all times, and the residents’ wing has separate security. No one gets in without proper clearance.”
The hallway opened into a common area with worn but clean furniture, a television mounted to one wall, and several doorways leading to other parts of the building.
Signs pointed to a kitchen, classrooms, and a wing labeled “Residential.” Overall, it seemed like the common room took up maybe a quarter of the ground floor.
“I’ll show you to your room,” Violet said, guiding us toward a lift just off the main area.
“I got you guys a three-bedroom ready for you so the girls could have their own rooms.” She continued to give me the rundown as we walked.
“We got two full-size beds, two dressers, and two desks with a chair in their bedrooms and there’s still plenty of room for anything else you need.
The master bedroom has a king bed, as well as a couple of dressers and a workspace like in the other bedrooms.”
“I’m sure it will be perfect.” I thought my words might be slurring and I faced Violet. “I think I’m crashing.”
“Oh, honey.” She put her arm around me as we stepped off the lift.
Violet guided us a short way down the wide hall and swiped a key card to open the door and we all filed inside.
Violet helped me to the couch in the center of the room in front of a large television.
“Let me get you some water.” Violet hurried off.