The chilly air felt good against Joanna’s skin. Her dress wasn’t designed to protect her from the elements, but she didn’t mind. She welcomed the cold as it extinguished the heat of her nerves, so when she felt Addison squeeze her hand, Joanna squeezed back. Everything was going to be all right.

Instantly, Addison and Joanna found themselves ablaze in bursts of light. Bordering on hysteria, the paparazzi were shouting their names as they snapped their pictures, but matters were made much worse when Joanna smiled.

When she had stepped out of the Rolls, intent on not falling flat on her face, Joanna’s expression had remained blank, but as the frenzy of light and attention swept over her, she thought back to a time not too long ago when she was scrubbing floors on her knees. That memory, mixed with the commotion now surrounding her, caused her best smile to appear, and although Joanna had no way of knowing it...she had just captured the world with that smile.

It was infectious, and even the staunchest of reporters felt goosebumps creep over their skin as they smiled in return. It was true. It was honest. It was Joanna.

For a short while, they stood just outside the car allowing photographers to do what they were paid to do until Joanna felt Addison squeeze her hand again. Joanna raised her eyes to meet those gazing back at her, and the world stood still for just a second. Without thinking, Joanna stood on tiptoes and placed a light kiss on Addison’s cheek.

When Addison felt lips, soft and warm, against her skin, her heart stopped for a moment, and it was the longest moment of her life. She told herself Joanna’s kiss was spontaneous, just part of the act of being who they were or rather who people thought they were, but the smile on Addison’s face wasn’t an act...and neither was the look in her eyes.

***

Bradley Easterbrook was what most would call new money. Like many in his youth, he had spent his time playing endless video games, and as he grew older, he not only played them, he learned how to create them. A genius when it came to computer graphics and game design, before he graduated college he was being wined and dined by the largest gaming companies and studios from around the world, but the establishment was just that, and Bradley wanted no part of it...at least not yet. So, in the basement of his family’s home he designed and built a game called War of Avengement. Studying the gaming consoles on the market, he made it available in all the popular formats, and then late one winter night, he released it on his website. One month later, gamers the world over couldn’t get enough of War of Avengement, and Bradley was set for life.