Prologue
CITI
“Hush,little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird don’t sing, Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring turns brass, Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broken?—”
I stop singing at the sound of a car approaching, my fingers pausing as they stroke through Star’s hair.
I gently ease myself from the bed and make my way to the door, holding the chain shackled to my ankle so it doesn’t drag noisily across the floor. I creep down the stairs and head to the kitchen. I need to start baking something. I’m not an expert by any means, but I’ve picked up things over the years thanks to cooking shows. Something about the smell of bread or cookies baking when Jasper turns up makes him less aggressive. I think it has very little to do with my baking skills but more to do with him thinking I’m accepting the role he’s cast me in, like I’m somehappy and content traditional wife from the fifties and not his unwilling captive.
I hear the back door slam open and swallow the bile in my throat before I paste on a neutral expression and move to the hall to greet him. Better to face his aggression head-on, and deal with the brunt of it before Star wakes up.
As I step into the hallway, I stare at the woman standing at the other end in disbelief. Am I hallucinating? That can’t be my sister. This has to be a dream?
She gasps. “Citlalli?”
“Nevaeh?” My head spins at the possibility. “Oh my god, what are you doing here?”
Her eyes take me in, roving over my body in disbelief as I sway on my bare feet, willing myself not to pass out from the shock.
“Oh god, I thought you were dead,” she chokes out, swiping at her tears as she runs toward me. “We need to get out of here.”
Before she can reach me, the sound of gunfire has us both jumping—her with shock, me with a cold, hard dose of reality.
“You can’t be here. He’ll kill you.”
“I’m not leaving without you, Citi.”
She doesn’t understand what she’s saying. “You have to. Please, just go.”
The gun fires again, splintering the wood of the door.
Star. I have to get to Star. Every other thought disappears from my head as I scream and run.
Please God, do not take my daughter from me, too.
“Citi, wait!”
I don’t listen. I run up the stairs as fast as my feet will carry me, the clanking of the chains underlining the very real danger we’re all in.
Star is standing in the middle of the room, terror etched into every pore of her face. I sweep her into my arms and hold her tightly to me.
Nevaeh tears into the room, freezing when she sees Star, her face paling as she puts all the pieces together.
“Oh, Jesus.”
More gunfire sounds as I cradle Star protectively. I don’t know how or why Jasper brought Nevaeh here, but it changes nothing. He’ll have to pry my baby girl from my cold, dead hands before I let him take her from me.
“I have a niece?”
“I won’t let him hurt her. He can do what he wants to me, but I won’t let him hurt her.” I let my eyes slip closed so she doesn’t see the truth in them, that I won’t just pick Star over myself. I’ll pick her over Nevaeh, too.
“He’ll have to go through me first,” she snaps, making something inside me rejoice. It will take a whole fucking lot more than me to get us out of here, god knows I’ve tried.
