Cont

my raw nerves like a blade drawn sideways. I'd heard that tone a thousand times.

onto my face. It

steadier than I'd expected. A stranger

flinched before I could stop myself-a quarter-in

lid back into place. "You must be exhausted. My poor

tending to be happy, mothers pretending to approve, grooms pretending they weren't terri

pressed out between clenched teeth. I'd learned to cry without making noise in my second foster

I stared at the ceiling and made a list. What I knew. Wha

ng, I ha

the couples massage, the helicopter tour. To

thing under the calm surface. A Moretti heir didn't get to

oice was flat. No edge to gr

look like anything but the devoted husband. Not with the Rossettis watching. Not with his father's men a

"When you're better, we'll go so

him sit in the sile

ling her, probably. Reporting that his new wife was already being difficult. Or maybe calling his mot

ing in the seat beside me, a heat I could feel without looking. He wasn't used to being shut out. The E

uation he hadn't even realized

I bent to pick up my bag at the exact right momen

that register men use when they're about to remind

eyes. No anger. No

," I said.

e. I watched him recalibrate-the slight tightening around his eyes, the

o

Our life. Every word in that sentence was a lie I'd helped construct. The apartmen

tudy. I needed records. I needed the kind of proof that did

mering silence, trying to

ought I was