Prologue

Kaley Evans took one last look over her Los Angeles apartment loft. The apartment loft had been an add-on the original house that her father and grandparents would continue to reside in. For Kaley she was moving on. To better things? Who could say. But she was putting this town in her 2008 red Ford Mustang coupe's rearview mirror. The car had been a gift from her grandfather on her mother's side, and Kaley could have staked her life on the fact that it was done to spite her mother's husband, whom neither Kaley nor anyone other than her mother could stand. But that was okay. In no time at all, she'd be 300 miles away from them both, starting a brand new job and hopefully basking in the brand new life that came as part of the new package.

As the car was already packed with clothes, her every day necessities, her laptop and mementos that could not be left behind nor replaced, Kaley grabbed her last piece of luggage: a pet carrier containing a very round (and very heavy) short-haired Himalayan cat named Percy, who purred and looked at her with his sky-blue eyes through contented slits thanks to the Feliway dispenser that Kaley was gracious to find actually did what it promised: calmed her feline down in what would otherwise be a very traumatic experience.

Sighing and wishing she could borrow some of Percy's contentedness, Kaley gave herself one last glance in the mirror.

Her dark brown layered hair hung loosely just past her shoulders, its natural highlights glowing in the early morning sun. Her face had a softness to it, her father called it baby-faced and it annoyed the hell out of her that she couldn't get that roundness to ever go away. Her luminous green eyes looked solemnly back at her, uncertainty visible in their emerald depths. She could still back out, couldn't she? Could she even survive away from this place? Away from her family and friends? Kaley couldn't even remember the last time she'd been away from the loft for more than a night. In fact she didn't think she ever had. She'd certainly never been outside of Los Angeles before. The fine, natural lines of her eyebrows furrowed. No, she wouldn't back out. She'd already given her word. And her word was her bond.

One last glance, she thought to herself. One more and then I have to leave.

Her eyes rose back to the mirror, and she checked her outfit: the outfit that had taken hours upon hours of um-ing and ah-ing browsing through multiple stores to finally find something she could be satisfied with. Finally she had decided on a pair of Nanette Lepore's black trousers that accentuated her curves just enough so that she was still job appropriate, a cranberry-coloured shirred knot front V-neck top , and her favourite by far: a pair of DV by Dolce Vita Women's Sabina leather boots. The whole outfit had set her back her last month's whole pay check, but it made her feel sophisticated and she had to admit, she looked damn good, so it was money well spent.

Kaley ruffled her shirt, and looked down at the carrier.

"So this is it then, huh Percy?" she asked the cat, to which of course he gave no response. "Las Vegas, here we come…"