Killed by the Ones I Loved

amily, fiercely protected by my brother, the D

framed me for the federal crimes committed

e and threw me into the syn

n I was finally released, crippled and starving, I walked into my

ity, Chloe faked

clinic, pinning me down to forcefully

horrific burn scars from the prison, my brother

from the repeated electr

reveal that the blood drain had killed me. I watched them uncover

l to their knees, howling in agonizing re

ir tears, I felt a

ies, and stepped into the blinding white light, le

pte

ia

he Commission as the family's heir, my brother-a man whose name was a currency of fear

e profound stillness of the hall. "Chloe is my sister by blood

ldhood. Leo's gaze did not meet mine; it passed through my shoulder a

e possessing the flat, abrasive quality of ground stone. "And

for a decade, formed a bulwark bet

ored, brought inside the fortified walls of our Estate out of a comple

d not ev

rds before the Five Families. The heavy vellum pages slid across the polished marble,

oke my name with the same disinterest one might use

s a service, Aria. It is you

ath me seemed to warp then, its gilded lin

h warrant. I did not know that the boy I loved had already chosen another. All I knew, in that moment, was the cold weight of the shac