Jamie stepped out of the car, having been driven to the door by her father’s men. She beamed at them, for she had known them since she was a toddler. Bidding them goodbye, she said softly,

“Thanks,” and then, she was entering the modest house. Music and laughter echoed in the corridor as she hesitated, for she did not know many of the guests, who mostly belonged to the crowd that Sadie currently moved in.

Older youths, with long hair and tattoos, girls in the shortest of ...