But it doesn’t change anything.
“I’ll be more careful,” I say finally.
“That’s not good enough.”
“It’s all I can promise.” I leave before he can respond.
Upstairs, I check on the twins. They’re both asleep, tangled in their blankets, faces peaceful in the dim light from the hallway. I stand in the doorway watching them breathe and wonder how much longer I can keep this up.
How many more lies?
How many more secret meetings?
How much longer before everything falls apart?
21
CASSIAN
Two letters won’t leaveme alone.
F & L
Engraved on the back of a silver locket that fell from Aurelia’s purse four nights ago. I picked it up off my bedroom floor while she was in the bathroom. Saw the initials. Put it in my pocket instead of back in her bag.
She noticed it was missing. Checked her purse twice before leaving, her movements quick and nervous, but she didn’t say anything. Just left.
Now the locket sits in my desk drawer at the office. I take it out every few hours, turn it over in my palm, trace the engraving with my thumb.
F & L
It could mean anything. Family initials. Friends who mattered once. A keepsake from someone dead. But Aurelia’s story has too many gaps. Six years missing. Tight security around her now that she’s home. The way she deflects every question aboutwhere she was, what she did, and why Julian watches her so closely.
The locket is a piece of something bigger.
I call Declan at seven in the morning. “I need you to dig into something.”
“What?” His voice is rough with sleep.
“Aurelia Vance. Where she was for six years.”
Silence stretches between us.
“We’ve been looking for six years, Cass. Found nothing.”
“Do what I ask, Declan.”
I hang up and open the desk drawer again. The locket catches the morning light coming through the windows.
F & L
Two letters that won’t stop nagging at me.
Declan calls back six hours later.
“I found someone,” he says. “Guy named Martin Reese. He handled property management for Victor. Leases, logistics, maintenance. Mid-level enough that he knows things but not high enough to be untouchable under Julian’s new structure.”
“Will he talk?”
