A new beginning. (1 of 7)

Ringing in the New Year and a new beginning, Brad and Steph's wedding bells tolled at midnight on January 1, 2013.  Though they knew their lives would never be the same, they had no idea what horrors lay in wait for them just around the corner.  And all because Brad had forgotten to pay Reggie's loan sharks.

Three weeks after their wedding, Brad was asked--nay, ordered!--to arrive at Reggie's crack house.  "Bring weapons," Reggie told him.

"How will I know it's the right house?" Brad asked.

"You'll see Hester, my bottom bitch and watchdog out on the stoop," said Reggie.  As Brad took a breath to ask that Reggie leave him more time to repay his debt, Reggie hung up and Brad was left with little more than the echo of the dial tone.

  Though Brad begged her not to, Steph insisted upon chauffeuring Brad to his meeting with Reggie.  

[Ed note, A "dial tone," dear readers, is the sound one heard through a telephone line, alerting the caller that the line was active.  This was before cell phones, when land lines were more than objects that existed in old wives' tales.]