“It’s all right,” Anna said.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
She shook her head. “There should be no punishment for speaking the truth.” She drew in a breath. “I was devastated when I learned of your parents’ death, and I must confess, I had a hard time believing it was an accident even then.”
“It wasn’t,” I said. “It wasn’t.”
She nodded.
“What do you know about Dimitri Kaprolov?” Jagger asked.
Her complexion paled. “I was hoping you hadn’t learned about Dimitri.”
“Why?”
“Because in the years since I was at Aventine, Dimitri Kaprolov has risen to a position of power far beyond what the bratva could have offered him. He still has contacts there of course, but his authority is much more far reaching.” She hesitated. “And Cassie, he’s a very dangerous man. A dangerous man surrounded by other dangerous men, all of them wealthy and influential beyond your imagining.”
“Imperium Fratrum,” I murmured.
I thought about the flyers on the bulletin board in the coffee shop: Rain, Jasmine, Nia.
Then I thought about the school Lilah had told me about where girls were trained to serve men, the men who appeared on video feed to bid on them, the international auction where men traded women they’d already purchased.
It was the stuff of nightmares. And it was about more than just my parents.
More than Bram and all his scars.
More than me and the accident that had taken my sight, albeit it just for a while.
Anna surprised me by taking my hand. “I don’t want this for you.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I know. I just… I can’t just forget about all those girls. It’s not right what this even have done, what they’ve gotten away with.”
She nodded, and I thought i saw resignation in her eyes. “You’re your mother’s daughter. And your father’s.”
Tears stung my eyes. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You must.” She stood and glanced at Hawk by the window. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“What I was looking for?”
“In the car?”
“Oh… no. I must have been mistaken,” Hawk said.
“That’s too bad,” Anna said. “I’m sure it will reappear when we least expect it.”
I had a feeling they weren’t talking about something Hawk had left in the car.
I held out the picture Anna had given me of Bram and me with our parents. “Thank you for showing this to me.”
“Keep it,” she said. “Let it remind you of who you are.”
She wrapped her cardigan more tightly around her body as she walked us to the door.
When we got there, she surprised me by giving me a hug. “Do take care of yourself, Cassie.”
“I will,” I said. “You too.”
