na

he papers were r

he headmaster of Sofia'

itting in the office. Her face was bruise

had brought a family photo to class for a project. Another student named Gia

d his bastard child in the exact same e

ool expel Gia immediately. I threatened to pull al

ter nodded

ice door swung open, an

he played the victim, loudly accu

e a bottle girl at one of Julian's undergroun

p crack of the slap drowned out the hum of the hallway's exhaust fan. The re

wife. I told her a mistress had

shoved me hard in the chest. I stumb

lway. Julian walked in, flanked b

raight to Selina and shielded her and Gia with h

me. She fiercely defended me. She refused to apol

his legitimate

always treated like trash by the real family. She ma

fia. He ordered her to a

ay. She screamed no and

rned to c

suddenly gasped for air an

le. He ordered his soldiers to track down Sofia at all co

overgrown corner of the academy's botanical gardens.

my arms. I promised her that I would p

the parking lot,

ped out from behind my c

e," the lead soldier said, his

ound mafia clinic beneath the city.

tside an operating room. I

yes were red. He broke dow

preliminary screen showed a potential match. Now, he demanded that Sofia be the stem cell donor-a procedure that, unlike a full bone marrow harvest, could be done through a peripheral blood d

under in an unsterile underg

grieving father vanished, an

e was pulled shut, followed by the grating screech of a gurney's wheels on tile, signali

turned a terrifying shade of pale, her breathing growing ragged and shallow as her heart defect flared under the immen

ows. I screamed that he was sacrific

resolve. He claimed he had no choice, promising

ld animal. I clawe

of my head. The sterile lig

ed with agonizing pain. The heavy

n corridors. I screamed Sofia

tanding next to a pale, frantic Selina. She was clinging

my spine. I demanded to k

illed the

he operating room. He pulled his surgic

e doctor murmured. "Th

e concrete wall. My mind violently

rabbed the doctor's bl

simply bowe

to dim to an abrasive grey, and it was only when I tried to take a step forward that my knees, as if draine

ter-was that the doctor had not been talking about my daughter. Th