fina

stared at Rosa, my voic

ive rage. "That money belongs to the Family," she snarled, stepping

" I raised my voice, the sound echoing off the bare wal

to the room, his face twisted in anger. He lunged forward,

, stepping between me and our mother.

broad silhouette blocking the only exit. He fr

ondescending tone. "That money is better spent ensuring Serena's safe integrat

th together unt

oice tight. I looked at all of them, my breathing shallow.

ning in Salvatore's eyes. My eyes were blo

of a second. Then she lifted her chin, her

not be returned. Besides, someone with your low-

celet if it means that much to you, Serafina." She offered the words, but her opposite ha

selfish!" she cursed at me, her voice shrill. Rosa pointed to the f

al, his fingers digging into my muscle like iron hooks. He dragged me ac

d the heavy wooden door shut, and I heard the distincti

listened to the muffled voices of my family walking down the hall.

ars of hot rage spilled down my cheeks as I asked the empty ro

ilent punishment. I was ignored, starved of informat

customed to

ago. They had confiscated my primary phone, but they were too arrogant to search for hidden tech. I secured a freelance tactical job on the dark web to fund my

watching the last of my attachments turn to ash. One note caught the fire's edge-a handwritten pro

had leaked a piece of falsified intelligence into my family's network and wanted to see if I could identify it. I sp

the hour: "Noted. Transpo

lit up. I received my encrypted trans

eeks. I slipped out into the cold air. Standing at the edge of the compound's perimeter, the vibration of a phone broke the s

ered how I had been stripped of my dignity and t

fingers, and dropped it into a puddle. The unspoken law of silence,

ked into the shadows, making my way toward an

didn't know which one would end in blood first-but I knew which one I would survive. And I knew, with