Without the family's protection, Chloe's fall was swift and ugly. A sewer rat would have fared better.
Years of reckless spending had finally caught up to her. The massive loan shark debts she'd racked up blew up all at once.
With nowhere left to run, she fled to California like a woman who'd lost her mind.
The same woman who once strutted around in four-inch stilettos, lording her status over everyone in sight, now knelt on the steps outside my clinic in rags. Filth caked her skin from head to toe, and bruises from debt collectors covered half her face.
"Please, I was wrong, I'm begging you, have mercy on me!"
She threw herself at my legs, tears and snot running down her face. Her eyes were wide, feral, like a cornered animal with nowhere left to go.
I took half a step back and let
