ire

morning, a retinue of loyal Soldiers at her heels. Her laughter

omach still churning with a chemical fire. Every

ced, her voice pitched to car

eyes darting toward me with

ing in your food last night. I told him you were too witless and tru

ack tactical gear, his sheer physical presence immediately comma

na. He did not grant

called it sugar," Luca sneered,

osure. A fresh spasm, sharper this time, twisted thro

s cut the tension. The crucial endurance and medi

eights. The toxin was still ravaging my system, each jar

he restroom. Once.

They called me weak. They mocked my lack of stamina, their cruel j

of collapse. My vision tunneled, the periphery dissolving into a dark

sed onto the cold tiles of the dimly lit

ached. Slow, de

. He looked down at me, his expre

ocked. "You aspire to be a Syndicate doctor, yet y

s, and the dark

d smell of antiseptic stung my nose. I k

. She looked at me with a p

e quietly. "A senior Family doctor brought you in.

It was the Consig

ith dissolved, leaving only the

e bedside table and opened t

from Elena. It was a photo of h

sprawling mafia tattoo on t

read: Clai

chemical burn. I opened my contacts and tapped his name. The

failed

ry line of communi

alm. It was the housekeeper from the Rossi

me home. Your father has

Blood welled up, dripping onto the starched white sheet

the Rossi estate. The front doors stood a

on the expensive velvet sofas, as if they were born to them. Rosa was sippi

by the fireplace. He looked at me wi

here now. If you dare defy me or cause a scene, I will sever the bla

uthor of my life was threatening to mu

, her perfume cloyingly sweet.

my ears alone. "You were the mistake, Claire. I will strip

for years within my m

a slap across her face that ech

d, her nails digging into

less Ming vase tipped and shattered. Shards of porcelain and

ps thundered

, yanking me away by my hair with a vicious t

t the wall. The breath

gainst his chest. He checked her face for i

at me. His eyes were as col

ce rattling the crystal chandelier. "You atta

, fussing over Elena, checkin

broken porcelain. My hands we

pared me

A grotesque portrait of a fami

s a hollow, broken sound that quickly dissolved i

s. I dialed the number I had saved months ago. It was a ment

d on the f

ical training," I said, my voice dead and flat. "But