ra

e marble. It was more than wood. It was my father's last promise

umphant glint she barely concealed. She bent down, pretending to g

a tiny, almost invisible

wed me vanished, replaced by a dark, protective fury. He knel

ured, his voice softer

hat had been silent and broken f

a fury I hadn't realized was coiled inside me. "She

hed back against him, her eyes wide wit

s all i

nd was like a gunshot

that quickly hardened into pure menace. He saw my defiance. An in

whispered, the

braced myself. He raised his hand-the same hand that had held me and hurt me and pr

es from my face. The violence in his e

," he snarled, his voice laced

father's memory on his floor. Out in the hallway, the elevator doors slid open. As I stepped inside,

gut. I remembered being thirteen, when a group of older boys from a rival territory had cornered me. Dante, only sixteen himself, had appeared out

asn't hi

n. I stayed in the small apartment my father's pension had p

ment crashed open, s

rom his black coat onto the worn floorboards. He advanced on me

t enough to choke me, but enough to

manded, his voice a l

ck, bewilde

ienna. She's gone. Left a note saying you threatened her, that

from mine. "So I'll ask you