IF YOU HAVENT READ ANY OF MY OTHER STORIES IN THIS SERIES, THIS WONT MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU AND YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THOSE FIRST

Prologue

Death is always a pain in the ass.

It hurts the person who's dead. It hurts the people around the person. It creates an inconvenience, both for the people who planned on having more time with the dead person, and also for the people that have to cancel work and other plans in order to make it to the funeral. It's an expensive little bitch to have to pay for. The reception, the flowers, the casket, the preacher, the grave, the grave digger . . .

. . . Which is exactly why The Joker preferred ditching the bodies somewhere no one would find them.

He wanted to save the family of said person, the money and inconveniences.

But this time, watching one of his guys dig a hole to put his best friends daughter's body into, didn't feel rewarding like all the other times.

He felt burdened. Heavily burdened.

He didn't know if it was because his own daughter was clinging to his leg, crying. The sheer skirt of her own little black dress puffed out around her, practically swallowing her where she sat on his expensive shoe.

Or if it was because his nephew was still expressionless, gently holding onto his grandmother's shoulder as she held him; straightening his small tie every now and then.

Or if it was Harley, who was sitting on the damp ground in a designer black dress. She didn't care if she was getting it filthy. She was hurting. She too was clinging to him, her head resting against his leg as her arm snaked around it, her other hand resting on her pregnant belly.

And then there was Esther's silence.

Joker knew that when she was silent, it was either a really good sign, or a really bad sign. He decided to go with the latter, being that her daughter was dead.

She still stood by him, though.

She understood his intentions behind her daughter's murder. She understood her daughter could push people to their breaking point.

She wasn't angry at him, nor was she disappointed.

She'd only wished she could've stopped her daughter from screwing herself over, sooner.

By the time Hadlynn was buried, Joker needed a drink.