t took time, but I finally did it. I rebuilt my life. It took three years, a hell of a lot of therapy, and good friends for a positive support system.
Sure, it wasn't anything close to what I had before, but it was mine. That mattered more than people realized. When you lose everything in a single night, having something, anything, that belongs to you feels like a miracle.
I wasn't the same girl anymore. That girl died five years ago. The night Cash and Click sent those men. At least, that's what I believed. They never thought I would survive. I know that now. The things those men said, the way they laughed… they were sure I wouldn't make it.
But I did. Somehow, I crawled out of that nightmare and kept moving.
Now my life probably looks small from the outside. I work as a waitress in a little roadside diner three towns away from where everything fell apart. It isn't fancy. The booths are cracked, the neon sign flickers half the time, and the coffee is strong enough to wake the dead.
But I love it. Because it's safe.
Maud and Pops own the place. They're the ones who found me that night—running down the highway like something was chasing me.
Maybe something was. I barely remember it. Just flashing headlights. Gravel tearing into my bare feet. My lungs burning like I couldn't pull enough air into them.
And then their truck pulling over. They didn't ask questions that night. They just wrapped me in a blanket and took me home. They treated me like I mattered when I felt like nothing more than something broken someone had thrown away.
Five years later, they still treat me like family.
Now I work for them and their sons, helping run the diner during the early shift. Most days start before the sun rises. Coffee brewing. Bacon sizzling on the griddle. The quiet hum of truckers and locals filling the booths.
It's simple.
Predictable.
Safe.
Exactly the way I need it to be.
I tied my apron behind my back and grabbed the coffee pot just as the bell above the diner door chimed.
"Morning, sweetheart," Pops called from behind the counter.
"Morning," I said, forcing the smile customers expected.
I stepped out onto the floor,
And I froze. Four men had just walked in.
Their Leather cuts are what haunted my nightmares for years. The sight of them sent ice through my veins. I'd had nightmares about those jackets for years. My pulse spiked instantly. My hands tightened around the coffee pot.
Don't panic.
Don't run.
I'm supposed to be dead.
Maybe they hadn't seen me yet. Then one of them looked up. My mind started racing. Had he found me? Did he know I was alive?
Our eyes met.
And the world I spent five years rebuilding shattered all over again. Because the man standing in the doorway was the same man I had fallen in love with so long ago. Behind him stood the man I had once considered a brother. And neither of them were supposed to find me.
Cash.
Click.
"Eden?" they said in unison.
Like they had no idea. Like they were surprised to see me alive. My coffee pot slipped from my hands and shattered across the tile. The scream that tore out of my throat didn't sound like it belonged to me.