ene

s

ed me off at the same corner where he'd picked me up, like nothing had changed, like I h

urned my entire life witho

und noise. Every time I tried to focus on marketing strategies or consumer psychology, Caspia

room, my hands were shaking so badly

ression shifting from casual interest to concern. "Je

claimed to be a mafia king, threatened with my family's safety, and told m

be I

ice sounding foreign to my own ears. "C

rse. I'll be at the library if you need me." She p

ed, and it was the most ho

r's contact information glowed on the screen, but I couldn't bring myself to press call. What would I e

ur mounting debt. The scholarship Marcus needed for prep school. All the things we never talked about, the financial

out all of that? How lon

before I could

way it always sounded after a long shift. "I wasn't

e, just checking in. But instead, what came out w

line. Long enough that I won

ifferent now. Careful. Guard

question felt like glass in my throat.

hen: "Why are you

things about our family that they shouldn't know." I was pacing now, m

a shaky breath. "W

was Caspian

breaking glass. "No, no, no. This can't be h

raduating. Close to being safe. Close to aging o

r moving around, grabbing things. "I'm coming to ge

bout? We can't just leave. Ma

oro knows where you are, then your father knows too. And if he knows..." She

me. "So he is alive.

ly a whisper. "Lucien Mar

mother's first husband, a man who'd adopted me and then disapp

ed, my legs suddenly too weak to hold me.

r. "Because your father is a monster, Selene. A man who destr

e's my

I was pregnant with you, I tried to make it work. I tried to be the perfect mafia wife, to raise you in that world. But I

reatened my family. The professional muscle in expensive sui

d disappear and start over. I changed our names, moved across the coun

t cha

oking like him, acting like him. You have his eyes, his stubborn streak, his way of comma

g what features had betrayed me. What invi

quietly. "Something I never to

Wh

his first wife, from an arranged marriage that consolidated territory. She's... she's not a good woman, Sel

ld. "She threate

ds came out flat, matter-of-fact. "She said she wouldn't

has

who've been trained to see power as the only thing that matters." My m

rship applications, all the ways Caspian had proven he could re

e said again. "We ca

d me with its firmness.

ele

ep away from disaster." I stood up, surprising myself with how steady I felt.

These people your father they're not like

ime I learned to sp

twenty-three years of secrets and lies and lov

son," I said finally. "He says i

aspian Santoro is just as dangerous as your fath

offering

ful, comfortable cage, but a cage nonetheless. You'll be trapped in

bout having kids, but suddenly I could see them dark-haired little ones who

o be another

defeated. "We run. Tonight. We disappear so co

his future? What about

e it out. We

over her shoulder, working jobs that barely paid the bills, watching her children sacrifice t

til

"I need to understand what I

stupid," my mother said. "Promise m

ven as I said it, I

m room, thinking about choices and cages and the weight of

istallo. Same room. D

e to give Caspian Santoro an answer. Marry his son and accept protection from a world I'

e hadn't mentioned. One that mi

Lucien Marcellus in the eye and ask him wha

time, it was a photo message

made my h

woman I barely recognized-my mother, but younger, happier, wearing a white dress and a smile I'd never seen before. In

Maria Marc

asp. It was the second line, wr

ristening -

haired baby in a white dress. Me. At my christening, surrounded by peo

me, probably. He'd seen me take my

he wanted

ed, just two words that

come