“Hurry! Hurry, hurry!” Alexa Hamilton said to her daughter as she shoved a box of cereal and a carton of milk at her. “I’m sorry for the lousy breakfast, but I’m late for work.” She had to force herself to sit down and glance at the paper, and not stand there and tap her foot. Her seventeen-year-old daughter Savannah Beaumont had miles of pale blond hair. She wore it straight down her back, and she had a figure that had made men whistle at her in the street since she was fourteen. She was the hub of her mother’s life. Alexa looked up from the paper with a smile. “You’re wearing lipstick. Someone cute at school?” It was Savannah’s senior year in a good private New York school. Savannah was working on her applications to Stanford, Brown, Princeton, and Harvard. Her mother hated the thought of her going away to school. But she had fantastic grades and was as smart as she was beautiful. So was Alexa, but she had a different look. Alexa had a long lean body and a model’s looks, except she was healthier and prettier. She pulled her hair back tightly in a bun, and never wore makeup to work. She had no need or desire to distract anyone with her looks. She was an assistant DA and was thirty-nine, turning forty later that year. She had gone to the DA’s office straight out of law school, and had worked there for seven years.

“I’m eating as fast as I can.” Savannah grinned and reassured her.

“Don’t make yourself sick. New York’s criminal population can wait.” She had gotten a text message from her boss the night before that he wanted to meet with her that morning, hence the rush, but she could always tell him the subway had been slow. “How did the essay for Princeton go last night? I was going to come in and help, but I fell asleep. You can show it to me tonight.”

“I can’t.” Savannah smiled broadly at her, she was a gorgeous girl. She played varsity volleyball at school. “I have a date,” she announced as she scooped up the last of the cereal, and her mother raised an eyebrow.