ra

k hallway, the shadows cl

's SAT scores were completely falsified. He admitted that he and his mother had used syn

through the phone speaker, its venom u

good for laundering money, nothing more. She reminded him that he

h. She said Clara was trapped bec

ht years felt like a cheap plastic film, now scorched through by

I held my infant daughter tight against my chest, listening to her soft breathing. I

I was running on

lf in tailored armor. I bypassed Lucian entirel

needed someone I could rely on, someone entirely outside their web. I contacted a n

unts. I also placed a call to a private medical records archivist I had used years ago, requesting a sealed

ne rang. It was

her duties. She said Livia had showed up at the penthouse and insisted on taking over the child's

panic down. I told the Nursemaid to wait

, breaking every traffic law in the city as a

d the Nursemaid locked out in the ha

ms. Lucian had called the front desk and ordered her fired, cl

I told her I was doubling her hazard pay. I comma

d my strength, and kick

and debris were scattered across the hardwo

fa, looking entirely too comfortable as she ate

ies echoed from the nursery dow

. She said Livia would now live with them to serve Lucian, acting as if this were perfectly normal

ran straight toward the master suit

drobe destroyed by a pair of fabric scissors she had cast aside. She now stood before my hidden w

nursery grew weaker, morphi

e baby's room, abandoning L

ater was freezing cold, and her skin was turning a pale, terrifying shade of

ly red, consumed by a

a thick towel. The Nursemaid, drawn by the commotion, appeared at the bathroom door

d in the bedroom doorway, the corner of her mouth

hoing off the marble like a pistol shot. She stumbled back, a crimson b

t it carried the weight of a deat

om, her composure finally breaki

ild up, an excuse so vile it made my stomach turn. She berate

grateful Livia was willing

the household, the husband, and the bloodline. She asked me what more I

rrupted us from the doorway,

out. She urged that we required immediate transport to t

I did not threaten them. I simply memorized every detail of this moment-the freezing water, my daughter's blue lips, the smirk on Livia's face, the

I said, my voice terrifyingly calm. "And the next time you see my da