Chapter One

A cold wind blew down the urban canyon, rushing through the alley between the two buildings, and chilling Taylor Jane to the bone.

It was November in New York City. A blast of polar air had barreled down from Canada to ensure a frigid Thanksgiving.

Great, Taylor thought. As if I needed something else to worry about.

Her apartment—if you could call it that—didn't have heat. It didn't have air conditioning, either. But the warm temperatures of summer were a distant memory now. It was only autumn, and already it felt like an ice box inside the dilapidated building. She couldn't imagine how bad the actual winter would be.

Worry about that when the time comes. Just concentrate on staying alive today. You know how life is. You gotta take it one step at a time.

Right now, her immediate concern was eating. Her stomach was grumbling in protest of the deep emptiness it felt as she left the alley and hurried along the sidewalk.

Her clothes were dirty. She prayed they didn't smell too bad. It had been a week since their last washing. Maybe after tonight she'd have enough money to visit the laundry mat. She'd washed them by hand, the best she could, in the tub at her place. But that didn't do much.

As she walked along, she played the same game she so often did: imagining who might be a Daddy.

Not just a Daddy, either. But her Daddy.

Was he out there somewhere? She was beginning to lose hope. Sure, there were Daddies around somewhere. Probably even close. In a city as big as New York, there were bound to be.

But they didn't want her—the nearly homeless girl. Any Daddy she met would take one look at her tattered clothes, her dirty hair, and unkempt appearance and laugh as they turned around and left.

Maybe one day things would be better. She'd be able to afford new clothes and some makeup. She'd have a decent place with actual showers that worked all the time and a washer and dryer. Perhaps then a Daddy would see her as his potential Little instead of a hungry street urchin.

In reality, finding a Daddy was low priority right now. It was fun to dream. But she just needed to find stable housing and income so she could have a warm place to sleep and plenty to eat. And not just for her.

She had to do it for them .

She tried to stave off the nervousness that inevitably came with thinking about her goals.

Think about a Daddy instead. That always cheers you up. Maybe one day…

She smiled at the possibility.

And maybe everything was about to start improving. Could today be the first step toward a better life? She'd been told she could make some good money for a quick job. If it went well, it might even turn into regular work. Or was this too good to be true? Surely there was a catch.

Did they want her to do something bad? She wouldn't break the law or do anything immoral.

She'd turned more than one job down in her life. On the streets, there were plenty of people that wanted her to run drugs. Or turn tricks. She understood some people did what they had to do to survive. She wasn't too many steps ahead of them, either. But she had her standards. She wouldn't lower them.

Maybe this gig was different. The agency had a legit name: the Diplomatic Assistance Organization. It was in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, not far from the United Nations building. That sounded legit. Right?

She mulled it over as she briskly walked toward the subway station. Surely people wouldn't be dumb enough to do shady stuff right in the shadow of the UN There were cops everywhere around there! Especially during General Assembly, which was happening now.

No, she decided. More than likely, this organization just needed temporary workers to assist with the influx of people who'd come in from all over the globe. She'd heard that 140 world leaders were in town. And those people have big entourages, too! Each one brought dozens with them. Some hundreds. That equaled a lot of people flooding into Manhattan. It stood to reason that they'd need a lot of help.

This was a legitimate job prospect.

It had to be.

It was a golden opportunity, and Taylor wasn't about to waste it.

So, she hopped on the subway, using the last few coins she had, and set out for what might be the chance at a fresh start.

For her and for those who were depending on her.