Her eyes harden. “Watch your tone. You were never meant to become emotional about this. You’ve forgotten your role.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” I whisper. “Except maybe how heartless you really are.”
She doesn’t flinch. She simply gestures, and before I can react, two guards appear at the door.
“Sora will remain here,” she says to them, voice sharp. “Take her to her room and keep her there.”
“No,” I say again, louder this time, backing away from them. “You can’t do this.”
But they’re already closing in.
And I realize, with terrifying clarity, that I’ve walked into a trap.
The Chiaroscuro estate is already under attack. I know it in my bones, even before the whispered conversations confirm it.
My family wasn’t trying to find peace with the Chiaroscuros.
They’re trying to wipe Leo’s family out entirely. And I gave them the perfect opportunity to do so, because Leo and his father will never see it coming.
They think they have the upper hand, that they’ve been manipulating my family, when the reality is, they were being deceived from the start. Just like I was.
My mind calls a vivid image of Leo before my eyes, and my heart shatters.
He’s going to die.
And despite everything—despite the pain, the betrayal, the hollow words he said last night—I don’t want him to.
Tears burn my eyes, spilling over to fall down my cheeks, and I collapse to the floor, one hand pressed to my belly.
I’ve come to care about him.
More than I meant to.
More than I ever thought I could.
He might have used me, but I still saw him the good in him.
I still saw the man behind the anger, the son caught in the crossfire of his father’s expectations.
I saw the way he looked at me like I was the only woman in the world, felt the way he brushed my hair off my face when he thought I was asleep.
I remember the way he held me when I woke from my nightmares.
I don’t know if he loves me. Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he can’t.
But I don’t want him to die.
I don’t want our child to grow up never knowing him. And I sure as hell won’t let my family win.
Not like this.
32
LEO
Adrenaline courses through my veins. It feels like an enormous weight has lifted from my shoulders as I head back to our quarters to find Sora.
Now that I’ve cast off the shackles of my inheritance, the burden of my father’s expectations, I feel bold and fierce and finallyfree. All I can think about is collecting Sora and getting out of here.
