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Cassius, only for him to give the ultimate symbol of his protecti
nzo, and my ally Lucian all followed suit, p
y only way home to the real world-they violently aborted the procedure. They accused me of twisted manipulation and locked me in a high-security
that you may watch them choose me-un
make them stop, yet a single tear from Serena became their abso
ed by my hospital bed, through the system
calmly signed the papers for their
or good, I will tear Serena
pte
ia
rclet onto my finger, a voice like grinding gears whispered
o your origin world, or forfeit the life of your brother." The voice was cold, clinical-but beneath its grinding cadence, I caught a
down at
ssue. The kind you get from beating men to death with bare hands
dium, set perilously near the edge of the coastal cliffs. The
chanical voice echo
ation missio
d to bel
leviathan empire. Every sleepless night, every bloody ledger I balanced, every ri
ion spoke o
ributable to a sing
Their thorns pricked my forearms through the paper wrappings, th
gaze past Cassius
his heavily armed soldiers. Pinned to the ce
se. The Family'
ant one thing: untouchable. The Don
d given i
ed my line of sight. For a fraction of a second, a vei
nd brushed a stray lock
voice pitched low. Placating. "She had a violent
t lined with
ve to be that
hadow of impatience
e swept his arm toward the stadium. "You shouldn't fight Sere
e. A full bucket, dumped over my h
I understood what nine
dn't understand the exclusionary nature of true fealty-the kind that leaves no r
sion's voi
for your brother and initiate the lethal ex
y into Cassius's
es
om his shoulders. He looked so relieved.
diamond ring from my finger. Place
going
ile va
the ring to
the ocean threw itself against the
chopper tore through the bruised storm clo
ip locked around my ar
a, s
ow. Frustrated knot between his eyes. Lik
use. We can delay the wed
nch free, soft foo
assius's prized wooden baseball bat-the relic he neve
ill have the lawyers transfer the
efest flicker before she lowered her gaze, I caught it-something cold
detachment he'd perfected-the same look he gave me when he developed the Aria Pr
ready to extract any
calculated everything, including the day he
long before this moment. I jus
n's voice ret
tiated. Proceed to isolation to
beginning-any intervention that stabilized my vitals wou
s coming in, and I knew exactly which c
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