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I freeze when Nico walks into the room. He’s wearing nothing but a pair of workout shorts. His body looks huge, muscles bulging, expression severe, as if he knows what I’m doing somehow.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nuh-nothing.”

“Then why do you look so terrified? What are you doing down here so late?”

“Getting a glass of water.”

He walks to the other side of the kitchen island. I hold the device under the island so that he can’t see it.

“Try saying that like it’s the truth,” he says stiffly.

“Why would I lie about something like that?”

“I don’t know, but when I heard you walk past my bedroom door, I knew something was wrong.”

“How?”

“Instinct.”

I roll my eyes. “Your instinct extends to creaking floorboards, does it?”

“In this case, it seems that it does. But there’s something else. When we spoke earlier, you had this look in your eye… it was like you genuinely hated me, Sienna. I’ve never seen you look at me like that before.”

“You sayneverlike we’ve known each other for years.”

“It feels like that to me.”

“How romantic,” I reply sarcastically.

When he walks around the island, I move in the other direction, keeping the island between us at all times so he won’t see the recording device.

“Now you’re really making me suspicious. Show me your hands.”

“Do you think I’ve got a gun or something?”

“Show me your hands, Sienna. Now.”

Nerves constrict my throat. But even when his tone is dark, it’s difficult to believe he’s the man who killed my mom.

I raise my hands.

“What’s that?”

“A bug. A recording device.”

“What the fuck?” he growls, walking hurriedly around the island.

He grips my arms, his hurt expression even worse than before. “You’respyingon us?”

“Don’t take that tone with me.” I back away from him. “You’re the one who killed my mom.”

ChapterTwenty-Three

Nico

When she says I killed her mom, it’s a struggle to accept what my ears are hearing. I grip her arms again, hold her in place. She stares at me with a confused expression, a hint of affection still in her eyes, but something else there, too. Rage. Hate. Pain.