Hannah was riding her first fix in well over a month and it was like the very first time she had ever gotten high with Caddie over a year ago. In fact, it had been a year and a half since that first injection. She felt amazing; all of her troubles went away. She had staved off withdrawal, her exhaustion disappeared, and she felt more in control of herself. Meanwhile, Shanel was giving her the play by play of what it was like to be booked.

"So as ya know, first ya get arrested. Then ya go to the county jail where they bring ya in for processin. Because people go to jail and there ain't never any quiet, ya gotta wait in this room with other people. When it's ya turn, they bring ya out and finger print ya. Ya get ya mugshot taken after that. They strip search ya; ya gotta bend over, spread ya butt cheeks, and cough so they know ya ain't hidin anything up ya ass. After that, they give ya some prison shit to wear and if there's a cell available and ya can't make bail, they stick ya in there and ya wait until someone posts ya bail or ya go to a court hearin. Ain't nothin like spendin nights in those cells."

"Shit." Hannah said listening intently as she shook her head. She knew that was one place she was going to avoid if it was the last thing she did.

"Tell me about it. I heard from Randall that other pimps who had to do hard time said prison was the biggest shit hole. Can't imagine how it could be a great place to be. Ain't no Caesar's Palace, ya know?" Shanel laughed with a hard edge in her voice as Hannah nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be avoiding that place. Not somewhere I want to ever be." Hannah said as Shanel nodded.

"I hear ya. I've been booked many times but Randall always bailed me out. He's dope, man." Shanel said looking like she was talking about a movie star or a God of some sort. 

    Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Scarlett was invited back to Chris' home. She knew that in order for that to happen, Hannah had to have left. She was ecstatic. Her plans were working just the way she wanted them to. Now she could fuck Chris in his home and not worry about some dingy motel room. She had some class after all, she thought to herself laughingly. Now all she had to do was get pregnant and the rest would be gravy. Chris and the house would be all hers until she found something or someone better and with more money. To celebrate she went to Victoria's Secret and bought a few of the sexiest lingerie pieces she could find. She decided to model one of them for Chris that same night.

"Daddy, look what I bought. You like?" She said seductively as she emerged from Chris' bathroom and posed in the door way. He smiled and nodded.

"Wow, you look stunning." He said looking her up and down admiringly.

    She was wearing a black corset number with a garter belt that held her silk stockings. The corset was see-through and had little bows placed in strategic areas like around the nipples. It was strapless and boosted her breasts so her cleavage was all but falling out of the top yet holding everything precisely as it needed to be. She was wearing jet black high heels and very little make up except for fire engine waterproof red lipstick. Scarlett could tell how quickly Chris' dick went from 0 to 100 upon seeing her and it's just what she wanted to see. She went out of the room and brought in two champagne glasses along with the bubbly itself.

"What's that for?" Chris asked her puzzled yet still smiling. God she looked hot.

"To celebrate getting the house back. Ding dong the bitch is dead!" Scarlett said but wasn't at all prepared for Chris' reaction.

"Don't you dare ever fucking say that! She's not dead! What the fuck is wrong with you?" He yelled at her as she stood there stunned.

"Why are you yelling at me? She's not dead, it's just an expression. I'm just glad she's gone so we don't have to use those sleazy motels anymore."

"Big fucking deal! So we used some motels. She's still my wife and this is her house too." Chris continued to speak though his voice lowered in volume. Scarlett's eyes narrowed.

"Oh get off it! Quit making a big deal out of that! Would you rather I left? You can have your precious Hannah the drug addict and shitty sex again. I'm giving you the best of both worlds baby! It's not like I'm forcing you to divorce her, though I've asked. You can go ahead and pretend like you're the supportive husband while fucking my brains out!"

    There was silence then as Chris realized Scarlett was right. She had hit a nerve. He did have the best of both worlds. He was lying to himself about being a good husband when he knew deep down that he wasn't. He just never wanted to think about it and when he was with Scarlett, he didn't have to. She made him forget everything wrong in his life including things of his own making. Hannah was somewhere out there in a seedy part of town getting high and he didn't even remember to call her or look for her though she had taken her phone this time.

    Chris wasn't ready to give up either of the women in his life. Hannah was his wife and they had history; plus he thought....no knew he still loved her. Scarlett was the direct opposite of Hannah; dangerous, confident, amazing in bed, and not afraid to speak her mind or put him in his place. It was a major turn on for him and he wasn't ready to think of the consequences if either one would leave him. He figured that if that happened, at least he would still have one of them and that was good enough. He then sighed and reached out for Scarlett as she smiled innocently at him and got into bed. They didn't say much to each other except had sex so steamy, it fogged up the bedroom windows; the champagne was forgotten.

    A week later, another raid went down that was led by Special Agents Allen and his partner Ryan. This time they didn't go home empty handed. Their confidential informant or CI had come through big time with a location where Scorpio was keeping some of his drugs and loot. The seizure was so massive that it made the news. Close to half a million dollars was found in the seemingly abandoned house near downtown Dallas.

    The CI informed them that Scorpio was in hot water with his Mexican counterparts over the fact that he had let his guard down so that the DEA could find the house and seize all of the assets. The Texas kingpin was sweating bullets and it was only a matter of time before the DEA would be able to get enough evidence to arrest their man and not have to worry about witnesses disappearing and so forth. Allen was also very close to verifying the enigma's real name. Even he had to admit that Scorpio was very good at covering his tracks and ghosting around. No one would ever suspect it was really him. But Allen knew or had a hunch; now all he needed was hard core proof to make his hunch a reality.

    From time to time, Allen still thought of Hannah and what had become of her but he was too busy with the Scorpio case to really get into specifics. The one thing he regretted was not giving her his business card so she could call him if she needed anything. Some caring agent he was, he thought to himself if he drove the woman home and didn't even give her his information so he could keep tabs on her and make sure she didn't get into any further trouble. He promised himself that once the Scorpio case was closed he would go searching for her.

    Hannah was very lucid when she decided to go to the library at SMU and look for the background information on Scarlett that the neighbor Linda had given her. She sat at the computer and started typing in Scarlett's name and news. What she found set her mind whirling. Everything Linda had said was true. Scarlett was a viper alright. The news articles talked about civil cases that were brought against her from former lovers and husbands, including one that got Hannah's attention. The article said that one of the many men she had slept with sued her for giving him an STD that wasn't curable. He claimed that she knew she had it and yet had unprotected sex with him anyways when she was in the middle of a flare up.

    Hannah was furious. This tramp was fucking her ignorant husband's brains out and he was hanging on every word she was saying. Thankfully, they had used protection when they had sex though it was only twice. She made it a point just in case to call Dr. Weller and make an appointment for blood work to be done to make sure she hadn't caught whatever Scarlett was towing around. Hannah was almost 100% convinced that Chris was already infected and she didn't want to take any chances. She had enough to deal with, with M.E., the last thing she needed was to add an STD or worse to that list.

Dr. Weller had an opening the following day and when Hannah went to see her, she explained what she wanted to have done. The doctor was surprised about everything that had happened to Hannah since then. She suspected Hannah was on drugs but didn't get a response when she asked so she decided to leave well enough alone. Dr. Weller was upset that the M.E. had forced Hannah to turn to drugs and her husband to another woman. She truly hoped that Hannah would be able to get her life back on track and soon.

Meanwhile, Hannah had decided to be safe. She no longer trusted Chris and wanted to make sure she was taken care of. After getting the blood work done at Dr. Weller's office, she went to the Dallas Bank where her and Chris' bank accounts were and decided to close out her savings account and transfer the money to a Bank of America account instead. She still had money left over from what her parents left her in trust when they died as well as the very generous check for $20K that Chris' parents gave her for the future car. She left Chris' bank account alone as that was primarily his and she had taken out enough to pay for her meth addiction.

When she made a new account in the Bank of America, she decided to open it up in her maiden name just in case. So the account was in the name of Hannah Shifford. Her instincts just told her that it would be in her best interests to do so. She hadn't listened to her instincts in a very long time so now she was starting to. She had $30K in the new account and also knew that she had to add to that someday. Her future was uncertain and she hoped she wouldn't be on meth forever.

Though it was a very hard and sad decision to make, she decided to pawn her beloved car and the GPS inside for an additional $5K. There was a pawn shop a few streets down from the warehouse that gave her exactly that amount of money when the owner took the car for a spin and realized that despite it having 100K miles on it, it was in nearly mint condition without any car accidents to its record according to Car Fax. Plus the added bonus of a GPS, a spare tire, and jumper cables in the trunk added to the price.

Hannah walked out of the pawn shop with tears in her eyes as she took one last look at her beloved car and walked back to the warehouse. Before she returned, she took public transportation to a Bank of America branch and put the cash into her new account. Now she had $35K on the books all of her own and she hoped she would somehow find a way to add to that. When she got back to the warehouse, Shanel asked her if she wanted to take some LSD with her but Hannah said no. She heard voices and looked around the corner to see Randall standing in front of some burly gang looking men who clearly looked pissed off at him.

"What the fuck, man? Did ya really think the boss was that stupid? Ya $1500 short! This ain't no game yo! I should just drop yo ass right here and now!" The guy with a face tattoo standing in the front said evilly.

"Dude, ya know I'm good for it! I already paid him $20 grand! $1500 ain't nothin!" Randall was replying nervously.

"If ya was good for it, ya'd make the full payment instead of skimmin it! Have ya lost ya magic touch, twinkle toes?" The gang looking guys laughed mockingly.

"I ain't lost nothin! Give me a little bit more time. Everyone is layin low since the cops been raidin everythin. I ain't the only one not doin much movin and shakin."

"Fine, ya got 12 hours; cops or no cops. If by the time we come back and ya ain't got it, Imma put a bullet in yo dumbass head and take all of ya girls for ourselves; ya feel me?" The tatted one said.

"I feel ya." Randall said frustrated.

When the gang looking dudes left, Randall exhaled sharply and rubbed his face in his hands. He then saw Hannah watching him and walked over to her.

"Don't worry doll face, I'll figure somethin out. They won't take or hurt ya. Just wish they wasn't such jackasses. But I guess when ya in this biz, shit happens."

He smiled at her then though the smile didn't reach his eyes. Hannah could tell that Randall had no idea how to get that last bit of money to the dangerous guys. After thinking for a little bit, Hannah made a huge decision and left the warehouse. She was making it as much for Randall as for herself. She walked to the deli and used her new ATM card to withdraw $1500 in cash from her new savings account.

Her decisions and kindness were about to set in motion unprecedented events that would change her and everyone around her lives forever. As soon as she had the money in her hands, the dye had been cast.