She ran and ran.
Her kimono was torn and her legs were bloody from her running through a bush in Central Park. She’d thought sleeping there was better than going back to the brothel.
She’d been wrong.
Eyes watering from the bitter cold, her body aching as she tried to figure out where the hell she was, Alix couldn’t stop. She had heard dogs coming after her and like when she was a young child, feared them.
And now here she was, running through dark woods, alone, in nothing but a kimono. In winter, with no one to look or care if she wound up dead. Well… *Aijin Chiyo (*mistress) would be annoyed she’d have to replace ANOTHER girl.
But she’d get over it.
Stopping on shaking legs as she trembled all over from the cold and out of fear, Alix was about to turn around when she hea
