The 48th Lie

lara. Until this whole

modern architecture. It was also completely isolated, a gilded cage miles from the nearest town, with only one road in and out. He took my car keys, "to avoid temptation," and l

ternal panel an hour after he left. They didn't shatter the glass walls; they simply unlocked the doors. They moved with a chilling, profes

truggle was brief and brutal. They were too strong, too prepared. As one of them pinned my arms, the

ressed it, held it for three agonizing seconds, activating the emergency call function. It was programmed to

rt coming from the other end. And then I heard her voice, Seraphina's voice, laced with a familiar, cloying tremor of

y line was calling him, but hurried, annoyed, and utterly focused on he

ic

up. The man who had promised to keep me safe, in the house he had provided for my safety, had just calmly and deliberately fed me to the w