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amily, fiercely protected by my brother, the D
framed me for the federal crimes committed
e and threw me into the syn
n I was finally released, crippled and starving, I walked into my
ity, Chloe faked
clinic, pinning me down to forcefully
horrific burn scars from the prison, my brother
from the repeated electr
reveal that the blood drain had killed me. I watched them uncover
l to their knees, howling in agonizing re
ir tears, I felt a
ies, and stepped into the blinding white light, le
pte
ia
he Commission as the family's heir, my brother-a man whose name was a currency of fear
e profound stillness of the hall. "Chloe is my sister by blood
ldhood. Leo's gaze did not meet mine; it passed through my shoulder a
e possessing the flat, abrasive quality of ground stone. "And
for a decade, formed a bulwark bet
ored, brought inside the fortified walls of our Estate out of a comple
d not ev
rds before the Five Families. The heavy vellum pages slid across the polished marble,
oke my name with the same disinterest one might use
s a service, Aria. It is you
ath me seemed to warp then, its gilded lin
h warrant. I did not know that the boy I loved had already chosen another. All I knew, in that moment, was the cold weight of the shac
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