"Well, well. Bridget Simmons. It really is you. Long time no see."

"You've gotten so thin."

I turned toward the voice. Cedric Finch. Mason's business partner.

"Why are you still hanging around Ashford City?"

I frowned, my voice cold as ice:

"My home is in Ashford City."

Cedric let out a short laugh.

"Home? Isn't your mother dead? What home do you have?"

The words hit me like a slap. I froze where I stood, my eyes flooding red, and I fixed him with a stare so savage he might as well have been looking at something rabid. I didn't blink. I didn't move.

Cedric shifted in his seat, unnerved. He rolled the window up and sped off.