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“Thanks, I’d like that.”

She signals the waiter to come over, and I try to shake the conversation.

But I can’t.

Papa is one of the evilest men I know.

People say that if what you already know is bad, what you don’t know is so much worse.

Papa, what did you do?

Chapter

Thirty-Two

Allegra

The next five days crawl by at a snail’s pace. It feels like years have passed instead of a mere handful of days.

As frustrating as the slowness has been, it’s given me time to think.

Anushka’s reaction has only made me more desperate to know what Papa did to Lev.

The person to actually tell me the truth is my father, but that’s less likely to happen than me growing a pair of wings and flying over the sun.

On top of that, there’s been no word from Mama on the escape plan. Lev will be home in two days.

There’s too much to worry about. No wonder I’m lying in the bed in the dark at ten minutes to midnight, staring up at the swirling patterns on the ceiling.

This was supposed to be an early night, but sleep won’t come.

I roll onto my side and gaze out the window. It’s so dark the cluster of trees looks like one big shadow.

My phone flashes and buzzes on the nightstand. From here I can see it’s an email notification from Netflix, reminding me to watch the next episode of Ginny & Georgia. Not a second later, more notifications come through. Dunkin Donuts, Nars, Starbucks, and Neiman Marcus are all offering discounts this weekend. Thanks, Anushka, for subscribing me to a million mailing lists. Now I have a million emails with all sorts of offers.

Closing my eyes, I attempt to fall asleep again. One by one, I push each worry away. Finally, a sense of peace settles over me. I embrace it. Seconds later I drift into sleep, but then a familiar darkness takes over.

Darkness… and then the bone-chilling sound of screaming.

Mine and Gabrielle’s.

Suddenly, I’m back in my nightmare, sucked into a scene of horror.

Fragments of painful memories form in my mind, like something wicked pieced together the worst moments of my captivity and shoved them toward me.

I feel the men torturing me, feel them burning my skin with fire, feel the whip ripping my back wide open. Then I see my sister, my sweet, sweet sister, and everything speeds up to the end. The end of her.

I see her alive and know it will only be for a few more seconds. The monster appears, grabs her. Moonlight flashes on his face, illuminating the black dagger tattooed on his cheek. Gabrielle’s eyes find mine. I reach for her, but I can’t move, then he slashes her throat and shoots her, taking her away from me.

Forever.

I jump out of my sleep with my mouth wide open.

A scream is stuck in my throat and I can’t catch my breath.

God, I can’t breathe.

I lunge off the bed and try to take gulps of air. It doesn’t work.