ene

e a midnight blue Bentley that probably cost more than most people's houses. The driver stood beside it, hands claspe

ts so soft they felt like silk. The interior smelled of expensive cologn

nd blood. I watched people on the sidewalks going about their evening routines couples heading to di

would n

ed behind us with the finality of a prison door. The estate beyond was breathtaking in its understated elegan

learning, weren't alwa

door as if he'd materialized from the shad

ceilings, and oil paintings that looked like they belonged in museums watched me from gilded frames. Everyth

rand staircase that belonged in a palace. Our footsteps echoed i

that probably told stories I was better off not knowing. Vince

Marcell

ing ladders. Leather-bound volumes filled every inch of space, their spines catching the light from crystal cha

ked like it had been carved from a single

In the soft lighting, his silver-streaked hair seemed to gleam, and the hard lines of

ic shock I'd experienced yesterday. His gaze was steady, calculating,

t slight accent that made everything sound l

surprised by how steady my own voi

en amusement flickered across

ably cost more than my semester's tuition. I chose the one on the right, settling in

r, studying me with those unnerv

't sleep

y one discovers their entire life h

me flinch, but I kept my expression neutra

er was dead. Twenty-three years of your mother working herself to exhaustion to maintain the i

I said, defensive despite mysel

therwise. Your brother's scholarship applications. Your own financial a

ent and anger in equal measure. "Yo

a folder from his desk, sliding it across to me.

e this nightmare more real. But my hands moved of their own accord, flipp

kably my father. He was stepping out of a limousine, surrounded by men in expensive suits. The cap

ily. The words seemed to puls

ng," Caspian

LAUNDERING OPERATION." Below it, another: "FEDERAL TASK FORCE TARGETS MARCELLUS EN

papers rustling like dry leave

m Boston to Miami. He has politicians in his pocket, judges on his payroll, and enough

le to look at any more. "W

u're walking into. What you've always be

came out stronger than I felt. "I didn'

Marcellus. One that people

quals. As if I belonged in th

ther wants to use me for levera

g, commanding. "There's going to be a war. Between the old families and the new ones moving in from overs

terr

his expression-grief, maybe, or rage. "My father built this empire with his bar

that have to

eaned toward me. "Your father needs allies. Strong ones. The marriage between you and D

ant to marry me. He's

hat's expected of

e my skin crawl. "You can't for

cold. "I've been doing i

hing vulnerable beneath his armor a man who'd sacrificed his own truth for duty,

ack into place, and he w

y gala this weekend," he said, returning to hi

agreed to an

d freeze. My mother leaving the hospital after her shift. Marcus walking home from soccer p

n continued, his voice conversational. "Their happiness dep

ved ones through the eyes of predator

protect them. The

the

her isn't the only one who knows you exist, Selene. Word is spreading th

ade something cold settle in

take you to use as leverage against the most powerful crime boss on the East C

dry. "But if

ily. Under my prote

ing different than it did in mine. It meant loyalty unto death, protection

" The question came out s

almost kind, which somehow made the words more brutal.

life I'd been planning before all of this started. Simple dreams. A

slowly, "if I marry Dario, wha

What you do in private is your own business,

chil

d across his face. "That

arry on the Santoro name, to cement the alliance between our families. Children who woul

more time

hat our meeting was over. "The car will take you home now. Y

if I s

lver in his dark hair, smell his cologne-something expensive and dangerous that made my head spin. When h

as his thumb traced t

u're your father's daughter, and your father nev

when he stepped back, I felt the

urning back to his desk, dismissing me like I w

d the door, his

ele

what it's worth, I'm sorry. You deserve better than this. But

nd I was being escorted through marble corridors

When the car pulled up in front of my dormitory, I sat for a moment, staring at t

d been li

ith a text from Da

and family loyalty and the look in Caspian's eyes when he'

arrangement, Dario and I needed to understand each other completely. We needed to decide wh

out how to survive

lk between two worlds the one I was losing and the one

n what it really meant