Villain of the Piece

Catriona Hendrix is the best at being awful. She's made a career out of doing terrible things to worse people. When her company is taken over by new management, they decide she has outlived her usefulness. Beaten, tortured for information, and left for dead, Catriona manages to escape with the help of her handler. On the run from immensely powerful enemies, the women need a safe haven for Catriona to recover from her injuries.

Whitney Mercer dreams of living paycheck to paycheck, instead borrowing from future uncertain earnings just to keep her tavern running. The local goons who turn up every month asking for protection money don't help matters much. But with the cops turning a blind eye to her downtrodden neighborhood, there isn't much to be done but pay them and pray they don't raise the price.

When Maureen Rigby shows up with a stack of cash asking about the room for rent above the tavern, Whitney is suspicious about her intentions but can't afford to say no. Who is the broken woman Maureen installs in the room? Who or what are they hiding from? And will harboring these two mysterious women end up being more trouble than they're worth?

Kindness is alien to Catriona. But Whitney is kind to her, and she's kind to Maureen, and Catriona knows she would likely be dead without Whitney's help. When she discovers some tin-pot dictator is making life hard for the tavern owner, she's offended on Whitney's behalf. Though she's not fully healed, she knows she can take down this wannabe kingpin.

She plans to show him what a true villain is capable of.