Book excerpt: Candace should've listened to her father. He warned her about gangster rappers and forbade her to go to Rilla's concert, but his strong guidance only fueled her defiance. Candace sneaked to the show anyway, and, at seventeen, she got the thrill of her life when Rilla invited her onstage for a special serenade. Candace gave herself to him that night and turned her back on everyone she knew when Rilla asked her to run away with him. Six months later Candace finds herself in Overbrook Meadows, Texas; a world away from the beautiful home and family she left behind in New York. Rilla has been dropped from his record label, and he's a fulltime dope man now. Candace's stomach is getting bigger, and she can't say for sure who the baby's father is. She thinks things are as bad as they can get, but she's wrong about that. Candace has not yet experienced the real pain her new life has in store.