Chapter Six
Reine was sweaty from the shower when she heard a clatter upstairs, the floor squeaking.
She took in the dingy darkness of the tiny suite she now called home. She could smell the mustiness, the mold. The carpet on the floor had been there decades, if not longer, and the old sofa had springs popping out of it, but the small bed in the tiny bedroom was at least better than the thin mattress she’d slept on behind bars for nearly three years.
She glanced at the small, dated metal insert of a shower as she dried herself off and pulled on a clean pair of underwear, one of her only two pairs. She was already planning how to spend her first paycheck on the few essentials she had to have along with the weekly rent she had to pay for this suite. It was badly furnished, but it was a st
