name makes you look as t

tared at

he woman who had just held her daughter and promised that she was home. Her face had gone pale

repeated quietly. "You m

ache in her throat. "Yes. Is t

rd the closed do

k th

ately obeyed. The heavy doors clicked shut, leaving mother and

d. "What does Elder Gideon Val

cabinet and poured water into a crystal glass. Her hand sh

a watc

had rehearsed angry speeches in the privacy of her bedroom, whispered accusations int

xurious estate, watching that same woman t

the

e glass down w

s the reason I

settled be

d slowly. "You disapp

everyone trusted to protect the packs." Mira's mou

died in a c

what they

stomach

that. Don't tell me my entire life was a

hat it so

ried you. I grew up believing there was nobody left who could tell me the truth a

s though Vaness

econds, neith

dress pocket and withdrew

eld i

ook it re

the left, younger than she remembered him, one arm resting protectively around Mira's wais

ognized him

on V

ten in faded ink,

everything

is taken?" V

ng from the Crowe family trust and using our investments to f

looked u

rowe t

at financed much o

seemed

the photograph. "That's impossible.

tell y

t, the contracts Lorenzo insisted were too complicated for her, and the c

me, Vanessa. You have

est ti

much

altered after his death. Some records disappeared. Others were tra

Lor

eld her gaze. "But his company has been

d returned to

her. His explanation that work couldn't wait. The c

ge about the f

mo

expression when she

rs began

w who I was when

hesit

urt more than any

idden. Your name was changed in several private records. Your inheritance was placed beyond your

he photograph until

idn't you c

pression

d that if I return

m fell

parted, but no

ng," Mira continued, her voice breaking. "I was

believe yo

kno

me grow u

kno

y child is

e crumpled

s had been trapped inside her since the hospital, pre

I called him until I couldn't hold the phone anymore. I thought he woul

ved tow

steppe

se do

sto

er of everything she had lost. She wanted to hate her mother. She wanted to collapse in

iture, holding a photograph that suggested her enti

aid. "All of it. No more

odded

hreaten him. He makes their families disappear, their reputations crumble, and their

knows ab

survived. I don't know whether

s phone

men loo

nown n

ayed at the hospit

message

ect your father. Don't mak

blood tu

m her hand, read the messag

nd me," s

ha

Vane

, the air seemed to thicken around them, and Vanessa felt t

ck sounded

ithout waiting for permis

, we have

s it, T

ate. Two guards are unconscious, and the

pression

ny intr

grounds." Thomas swallowed. "But we

a small bl

it as though sh

efore either of t

a crescent moon. Its surface was scrat

sa kn

e, years ago, in the coffi

ees we

yours," sh

s filled w

es

ed to be wearing it

w

endant to her mother. "Th

hands. A folded note slipped from beneath

a open

een written in

ER WHO BURIED

message was

is face bruised, an oxygen mask cov

aph's bottom e

fter his rep

stopped

her was

picture, tears stre

was dead," s

t her in disbeli

ld answer, the

acked throug

s sho

st the door, and the

m the other side-calm, fami

we, open

knew tha

business calls, and once in a recording she had acc

Gideon

"for you to learn what real

ehind them, Mira whispered the words

him take