phin

y door cli

nal verdict. Then the room erupted. Cheers, whistles, the clinking of g

hilling finality lodge itself deep in my marrow. It was

riously. He'd said them to save face. I'd said th

ome dignity," a woman whi

agreed, her tone suggesting the opposite

y direction, their eyes a sickening cocktail of pity and scorn.

tood up. My legs felt like water, but

ed, the librar

. It felt lik

ediately found the evidence. Isabella's expression was one of pure tr

been ground to dust, somehow

hin and distant, like it was coming from someon

yes were only for Isabella, a soft, possessive look on his f

own haunting. I called a car and sank into th

d. A video fil

n was dark, lit only by the faint light from und

la," Dante's voice was low, a rumble of o

married her. Are you happy, Dante? Is she a go

heard. It stretched on, each second a new kind of torture. I w

, was thick with an emotion I c

can never sa

ideo

ge, my entire adult

ers of triumph I didn't need to see. I arrived back at the cold,

inum was heavy, the diamond cold. A

owl. It hit the porcelain with

he diamond catching the light one last time

sharp and clean, wash

esign portfolio, the worn photograph of my mot

mansion burst open, sl

of cold fury. Behind him, clinging to his a

"You took her necklace," he stated, not asked. His voice was a blade of deadly calm. "Give it back

rse it was. "I didn't

lie t

ever once asked you for a single thing? Have I ever co

second, I saw a flicke

Dante!" she wailed, clutching at him. "It's priceless

nched away from her touch.

gainst Dante's chest. "See?" she cried. "She's a

he air left my lungs

fake tears and real venom. "She has always been j

had practiced for seven miserable ye

could protest

-a sharp, satisfying crack that split the suff