ra
e marble. It was more than wood. It was my father's last promise
umphant glint she barely concealed. She bent down, pretending to g
a tiny, almost invisible
wed me vanished, replaced by a dark, protective fury. He knel
ured, his voice softer
hat had been silent and broken f
a fury I hadn't realized was coiled inside me. "She
hed back against him, her eyes wide wit
s all i
nd was like a gunshot
that quickly hardened into pure menace. He saw my defiance. An in
whispered, the
braced myself. He raised his hand-the same hand that had held me and hurt me and pr
es from my face. The violence in his e
," he snarled, his voice laced
father's memory on his floor. Out in the hallway, the elevator doors slid open. As I stepped inside,
gut. I remembered being thirteen, when a group of older boys from a rival territory had cornered me. Dante, only sixteen himself, had appeared out
asn't hi
n. I stayed in the small apartment my father's pension had p
ment crashed open, s
rom his black coat onto the worn floorboards. He advanced on me
t enough to choke me, but enough to
manded, his voice a l
ck, bewilde
ienna. She's gone. Left a note saying you threatened her, that
from mine. "So I'll ask you
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