ia

Family Estate was overflowing with Made Men

int was the most important, and m

lavish estate, my arm a brac

rsh, wet rattle that sounde

e only thing keeping him upright

las stood by the massive stone fountain, hi

the same dark,

ched out and intimately pinned a glittering di

pread among the lower-ran

ances at me and laugh

rn dress and my fingers brushed the cold,

I pulled it out just far enough for the sil

yes locked onto the glint

manicured finger at me, her scarlet lip

ead with an air of

he silver chain laced through my fingers

thered as he shouldered his way through

dered, his voice a low ru

oying blend of bergamot and the cigars he favored-masked the scent of tobacco, bu

ed around my knuckles, the met

se today, Silas," I said. My

t a harsh, m

me with disdain. "You cannot even afford a decent dress for this Feast, yet you bu

ing his voice to a venomou

l that I am willing to keep you. Do you think any other

d by a coughing fit that t

own ribs together. His face turned an alarming shade of p

hammering against my ribs

at my dying father as if he were an u

ia," Silas commanded, his

a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills. There were dark, dried stains bloom

he money

xt month," Silas said. "But you only get it if yo

ca materialized beside him. The diamond pin on her chest c

etness that made my stomach clench. "Don't be stubborn. Your poor father is dying. You

blood-stained

g blue. I remembered kneeling on the freezing pavement outside Silas's car, begging hi

as rusted iron, preparing to swallow my

triumphant gleam

eliberately opened his hand. The entire stack of bil

up," Sila

ed across the cobbles

ees, and gathered the stained bills with fingers that shook not with fear, but with a cold, c

aze, now burn

g above the faint music of the courtyard. "And you will have to spend a f

s flying to her mouth i

rned a deadly,

llar. He stepped forward, his chest bumping against

, spittle flying from his lips. "Y

to his massive bodyguards who ha

ht here to watch how a real woman is honored." A cruel smile twisted his lips, and in his eyes, I saw the prom