His Betrayal, Her Unbreakable Love Story

g outside and the one that had just torn her life apart. Dr. Drake dro

silence. The words felt necessary, a defense of a past that

th pity. "I don't doubt that, Alicia. But the people

t the memories were insis

s consumed by their work. They loved their children, but from a distance, their pr

in the schoolyard by a group of older boys. They had knocked her books to the ground, ca

a dark look in his eyes, he had left. The next day, the lead bully came to school with a black eye and two missing teeth. Dante wa

ey nev

Julian hadn't scolded him. He had simply cleaned the cuts, his touch surprisingly gentle, and

r heroes. They had filled th

magazine when she was ten. "One day, Lissy," Julian had said, pointing to a p

called it an accident. But the family knew better. Their parents' research was groundbreaking, and dangerous. Others wanted it. The a

out Daniel' s only child, Ava. They brought her into their home, a broken, griev

a weapon. Her vulne

back of Ava's closet. Ava would cry and say she had no idea how it got there. A research paper Alicia had spent weeks on

o explain, and each time, her

issy," Julian would say, his v

Dante would accuse. "She looks up to

o was hurting her, slowly and method

ay. Alicia had found Ava in her room, wearing her mother'

had demanded, her vo

h feigned innocence. "I just wanted to feel cl

screamed, the injustice of it all fin

done the unthinkable. She had thrown herself backwards, down t

culated, the

n in shock as Ava let

e top of the stairs, her face a mask of fury, and Ava cr

k what happene

r arm, his grip like iron, and shoved her against the wall. "What did you

cold, terrifying disappointment. "Go to your room, Alicia," he

spital, fussing over her sprained ankle, and when t

Cambridge fund, and used it to book Ava a "getaway" t

licia realized she h

gery, Dante telling her to get out-it wasn't

cked Dr. Drake's credentials and the gate slid open, revealing a

al Researc

ome. Her

n and her

s, Alicia?" Dr. Drake

otionless under the receding storm clouds. T

Science. The cold,

ctly what

t time in a very long time, she felt a

as p