Blake" Fa

ped back into the

re waiting for me in the living room, my father standing, Karel

reported every move I made. I had been a fool to think I cou

a wave of heat that hit me as

ked up the coffee mug-my coffee mug, the one I used every m

t my face, slicing a thin, hot

a small, the

t a child. She probably frig

rn was another tw

, his grip a stee

ce inches from mine, his breath hot wi

wed a wire transfer from a new account I'd opened to one of my mot

The money you gave that woman. And every

o point in

up the loose floorboard and handed over the rest of the cash. He took

over my body with a brutal, invasiv

t was about power. About remindin

hological. I was to stand in t

ging, as the city lights outside my gilded cage blinke

's lifeline. He had re

chest didn't shrink. It didn't even smolder. It solidified. It hardened