Morett

pine. I scraped together the last of my strength, fo

fragmented. "Please, Da

ed through the phone. It wa

his voice a smooth, practiced lie. "And you, for your dying brother, ha

t was the price he put

mance," he snapped, his tone that of

nt and hot against my cold skin. A performance. My enti

nto the phone. "Dante, I love you, p

lay, the most humiliating plea of all. I thought

s wr

snapped completely. His voice b

Elara, don't give you

ling back years of denial to rev

our obedience. And right now," he snarled

. I was his pet. A pretty thing he

er of light in

oke, was eerily calm. "So you won't s

med to infuriate him

rces and my time on someone

e's voice, the voice that had once whispered promises

die anyway, E

ne wen

iPhone slipped from my grasp, hitting the linoleum

ed out, his face a mask of sorrow. He di

, the jagged green line that was my brother's heartbea

a symbol of death, burned itself into my h