Page 54 of Forbidden Fate

Everything circles back to Vega.

Falcon’s prison sentence. Raven’s suffering. Belinda and Daniela. Vinnie. The lies. The bodies. My father in a hospital bed after trying to take his own life because some invisible hand closed around his throat.

Vega.

Always Vega.

And Cruz belonged to him.

Maybe not in his soul. Maybe not anymore. Maybe never in the way men like Zabala belong to cruelty because it gives them pleasure.

But he belonged enough.

And maybe that makes him useful. Necessary, even.

But I don’t trust him.

Still, I’ll keep him close.

Because Cruz is attracted to me.

More than attracted, maybe. And I can use that.

I’ve done it before.

Romania.

Cold room. Concrete floor. A lightbulb swinging overhead. Four other girls huddled near the wall, none of them looking at me directly for more than a second at a time.

Elena.

Andreea. With two E’s, she told me.

Denisa.

Ioana.

No last names. No histories. I don’t know where they live or what they were doing before they woke up here.

They’re all Romanian, and all college aged like me. All terrified.

I’m Colette.

That’s what I tell them, anyway. Colette from a small town in rural France.

Not Robin Bellamy from the United States.

Not a rich girl.

Not a ransom jackpot.

I’m putting my high school French to the test. I just used it in Paris, where I did pretty well.

Je n’ai personne.

I have no one.

Je suis seule.