g, Serena woke

tangled in dreams she couldn't quite remember and emotions she couldn't shake. The imag

io Mo

in the silence of her small apar

on

re. Too dangerous for a girl like her to even think. And y

from danger. But

saw through the layers she kept carefully hidden. Like he kn

oward the pian

for half its value. The middle D key still stuck if she pressed

a

yed the same melody she always turned to when she couldn't think: her mother's lullaby. A Sp

used to sin

o

stop

Not this time. Last night had changed something. Shifted it. That ballro

comin

felt

eeling you got right before a storm-the sharp smell in the air, t

he'd always been t

-

retti stood in front of

leeves were rolled, revealing the serpent inked along his ri

before him-bruised, trembling, and

t my cousin," Aureli

misunder

ite. The kind of smile th

Because if it wasn't, I wo

the man standing b

ter, the room

ed out witho

blood. The Moretti empire wasn't built on generosity. It wa

, he was

h

pian

t things were. He'd already known about the ambush brewing in th

pposed to be part

re

the catering van, snap a photo of the roster. He didn't usually take i

eys. The way she heard things others didn't. He'

inst

iet

s that didn't loo

was in h

t she was

y and leaned against the window, watchin

ve had her

.. he'd give

h

dn't

d-and didn't w

-

'd forgotten her already. That the most powerful man in the city woul

he kno

shar

roat. No one knocked on her door. Not without

ce

round the edge of the nearest drawer where

it?" she

ans

rtbeat

f paper slid

otsteps. No retreating shadow. Just silence. When

he note with tr

folded

k card with si

M. Wear red.

igna

she

card-a single

ne he'd tucked