Chapter 1
ONE
Nevaeh
Thirteen years later…
“We’re making good time.” Mom shoots me a smile. “We’ll be free in no time.”
I can’t bring myself to answer. I’m swaying in between her and Ignazio in the front seat of our getaway sedan. Shoulder to shoulder I’m caged in, stuck in a fog that’s infected my head. I’m literally going through the motions.
The moment itself eludes me. Shock ripples through me as I fail to accept what’s happened: I’m on the run.
Any second now Caelian will wake to find the space next to him in the bed empty. He’ll be furious… beyond furious. He’ll be homicidally enraged to the point of world destruction. Nothing and no one will stand in his way. He’ll destroy every last thing if it means tracking me down.
Fear quakes inside my lungs while guilt pits my stomach. Can I really blame Cael for his rage?
We made a promise to each other—marital vows. We solidified them with I love yous and shared dreams of the future.
From his point of view, it’ll look like I’ve turned my back on us. I’ve abandoned him and our marriage. I was never in love with him the way he was in love with me…
All things that couldn’t be more false.
But it’s what he’ll think. The conclusions he’ll draw. With me gone, he’ll believe I left him the first chance I got.
“Ignazio, how about you pick a speed and stick to it?” Mom chides through gritted teeth.
I blink to find we’ve traveled another thirty miles. Mom sits beside me, stiff with agitation, while Ignazio is on my other side driving and pretending he doesn’t notice. Their celebratory vibe from earlier has morphed into crankiness.
Ignazio grits his teeth like Mom. “Didn’t you say you’d be fine if you sat up front? You can always sit in the back… or the trunk.”
“In case you forgot, it’s my doing you’re even alive and breathing. If not for me, you would’ve been the one in that trunk!”
A thick snarl of offense vibrates from Ignazio’s throat. Mom folds her arms and hums antagonistically along. I finally reach my fill and snap at both of them.
“Where are we headed? What are we doing?!”
“You ask that like it matters if you know.” Ignazio sputters out a laugh.
“Don’t speak to my daughter like that.”
“The same daughter you signed away to my dance company—”
“Yours? Sounds like delusions of grandeur. The company’s Nero’s, not yours. Never has been, never will be.”
“Is that supposed to make it any better that you signed your daughter’s life away?!”
“Levar and I did what we had to for our family’s survival! A snake like you wouldn’t understand.”
“Please… stop it! Stop fighting!” I yell over them, clapping hands to my ears. “You’re giving me a migraine. I don’t know what’s even going on.”
“What does it look like, Nevaeh?” Ignazio sneers. “You’ve corrected your mistake.”
“My… mistake?”
Ignazio blows out an exasperated breath and gives a roll of his eyes. “You and I had a deal the night Nero brought you to the theater to perform. And what happened? You left with your brute of a husband.”
My brows knit, my mind traveling backward in time.
Ignazio had made it clear his only interest was in the code I’m believed to have.
He’d told me to do as he said and he’d reunite me with Mom in no time.
A few short moments later, Caelian and his men had arrived and engaged in a violent face-off with Nero and his crew.
I’d eagerly left with Caelian as victory was secured, and we’d made it out alive.
“You came to visit Cael and me during Christmas because of what happened at the theater?” I ask slowly.
Mom matches Ignazio’s agitation. “Of course I did. You ruined our original plan for your escape. I had to go in and get you out myself.”
“But I didn’t want to go,” I counter, shaking my head. “I didn’t want to leave Cael—”
“Of course you did,” Mom snaps.
And then the matter’s dropped.
A silence falls over the van, where we sit swaying along to the motions on the road, listening to the outside world’s white noise through the rolled up windows.
Pressure presses down on me, unbearably heavy on my chest. I roll my lips together and squash down the dissent that’s thickening inside me.
My entire life I’ve been trapped in a cage. I’ve been under someone’s possession. If not Mom and Dad’s, then it was Ignazio at the dance company. It was Caelian in our initially forced marriage.
I’ve never been my own person. I’ve never been able to make my own decisions.
The people in control have always told me to shut up and obey.
I always have. Almost unquestioningly until recently.
But as I sit wedged between a disgruntled Mom and even more disgruntled Ignazio, I find myself about to explode. My hands ball into fists in my lap and I struggle to contain the frustration bottled up inside me. How much more can a person take without any personhood?
From the time I was a little girl, I was made aware that was a luxury I wasn’t destined to have. They signed me into a contract making sure I understood someday I’d be a wealthy man’s bride. His plaything.
The angel of his dreams.
My eyes close, and I drop my face into my hands at the thought of Caelian. He had to have woken up by now; he has to know I’m gone. He’ll make himself sick with anger. His fragile heart might not be able to take it…
“I love you,” I whisper under my breath.
“What was that?” Ignazio grumbles. “Didn’t I tell you to stop fussing? Both mother and daughter are insufferable.”
Mom elbows me. “Ignore him.”
The tortuous car ride goes on for another few miles until the city skyline emerges in the distance. Dresden looms larger and more intimidating than ever the farther we drive toward it. In no way does it feel like a homecoming.
As we merge with city traffic and pass through pockets of slum neighborhoods, dread overtakes me.
I’m unable to stop fixating on how quickly things have gone in a direction I didn’t want, and now I’ll have to suffer the consequences.
I’m once again being used as a pawn in my family’s quest for survival.
But at what price?
We ditch the sedan several streets away, then scurry down the block ’til we find a narrow alley. Mom and Ignazio trade places leading us. Either way they always make sure to keep me in the middle. I’m never left out of their sight.
We duck under a dusty tarp that half conceals the entrance to a brick building that used to be a clothing warehouse.
Wilting boxes of old clothes and cobwebbed folding tables cover the floor.
Dust floats in the air and tickles my nose to the point I almost sneeze.
Ignazio pivots toward a metal staircase that leads to the deserted offices.
When he turns the knob of the third door on the second-floor landing, I discover they’ve been repurposed.
The desks are pushed toward the walls while the chairs have been left out as seating.
A couple of sleeping bags are crowded in one corner of the room.
At the window stands a telescope, positioned at the busy street outside.
But all these things pale in comparison to the man waiting for us.
I gasp and then take half a step back. “Dad?”
His face lights up, and he opens his arms. “Nevaeh honey! There you are! It’s about time you showed up.”