a

hum of the climate control system, a noise like a wi

is chest rising and falling

inally said, his voic

his large hands

ng in the shadows

asp and crossed the vast expanse of

crystal glass, the sound of the bottle neck

d her," Leo declared, his voice rin

e liquor in one

you are cleared of a

yes welling with art

knew you wouldn't

pty glass down

nk echoed in

st time I prote

na f

seemed to evaporate as

her, the line of his

and is released from fede

ry, I felt a jolt of something that was not quite surprise, but a profound dislocation. I t

amily had never severed

s that had left hairline fractures in the plaster of our

my life just to keep her standi

to my true Family,

o face her, his fa

return to

kles turning white as she gr

ft her apartment," Leo confessed, the raw, unvarnishe

wn hands, as if expecti

used her sister's life as a bargaining chip. I look at th

Serena asked, her voice

in his jaw knotted, a violent,

is happening in m

toward the front door withou

e last time. Then I am g

e console table, his should

eavy door clicking shut behind him wi

a moment, wat

elegant lines of her mouth twisted, her jaw working silently. The muscles around he

hing turn

issed to the

centrated hatred, seemed to lo

d tenement while you were raised in a brownstone with a garden. And still-still-he could not stop saying your name in his sleep." She snatched Leo's empty crystal glass

na had not merely taken advantage of my absence. She had orchestrated it. She had been trying to erase me long before that alley, long befor