Page 5

I didn’t even know what a starling was. Later, he told me it was a kind of bird, small, loud, and hard to get rid of. He meant it as a joke, and it stuck. I was forever his little Starling.

Nathan was a few years older than me, and I had nowhere to go.

I was just a homeless kid, and he was a safe option, safer than the beds I would find myself in, the ones where I had to earn my keep where drugs took away the used feeling it left behind.

He had no one to help with his mother’s small farm, so it was a good fit.

Eventually, it turned into something more.

His mother, though, was horrible once she learned I was there; she hated me.

Eventually, we moved to the city to escape her.

It rings once. Then— “Hello?”

God, that voice. It cuts right through me. I press a hand over my mouth, fighting the sudden ache in my throat. Sixteen years of silence, and all I want is to say I’m sorry that I love him. That I never stopped. There is no time for that.

“Nathan,” I whisper.

Silence. Then, sharp and low—“Yes, it is. Who is this?”

“I don’t have time,” I say quickly, ensuring to keep my voice. “It’s Fallon. Mikhail has her. You need to get a message to Leone. He needs to come now.”

“Who is this? Where is my daughter?”

“Do you remember the cabin? The one with the blue door. Where the trees reached so high it felt like they touched the stars… how the lights were too bright in the barn window?”

A pause. Then I give him the name only he ever used.

“It’s your Starling.” A sharp inhale.

“…Rebecca?”

“I’ll get her home. Leone just needs to find the cabin.”

“Wait, Rebecca,” he says.

I choke back some emotion before saying. “Don’t hate them for what I did.” I hang up before he can say anything else. My fingers fly across the screen, erasing the call log. Gone. Just like that. I flush the toilet to make it real, splash cold water on my face, and breathe.

Don’t break. Don’t break. Don’t break. I try to breathe around the emotion threatening to strangle me.

When I open the door, Igor is standing just outside, hand raised to knock. I narrow my eyes.

“What?” I sneer. “You want to wipe my ass now, Igor? You’re already so far up it you might as well.” His lips curl, and he steps aside. I walk past him without looking back. The kitchen looks the same as I pick up my stone-cold coffee and peer out the window.

Mikhail is gone. I freeze. The girls are still in the yard only he’s not with them.

Instead, one of his men stands at the edge of the garden, arms crossed, watching the twins. My stomach flips. I slide the phone from my pocket and set it gently back on the counter, fingers fumbling slightly as I grab the charger cord and plug it back in. The screen lights up. Charging.

Behind me, the chair creaks again as Igor sits muttering under his breath. I don’t turn. I can’t turn. Not until?—

“Where did you go?” The voice is right behind me.

I spin, nearly gasping. Mikhail stands in the doorway.

He didn’t make a sound. I lean back against the counter like I’m relaxed, though I can feel the tension in every muscle. He’s staring at me. I smile. Soft. Sweet. “You scared me.”

His gaze drifts to the phone on the charger. Then back to me. I move fast. Not away from him. Toward.

“I thought you were playing with the girls?” I ask, as his hands grip my waist too harshly.

“I came to get my phone,” he murmurs, peering down at me, and my heart thuds in my chest so fast I can almost hear it.

My hand slides up his chest, fingers grazing the edge of his collarbone. “I was just thinking,” I murmur, eyes flicking up to his, “maybe I could take the girls to the park today? Just for an hour.”

His mouth twitches. “I’m busy,” he says. “I can’t today.”

“I can take them.” I press, trailing my hand up his neck. “They’ve been stuck here all week.”

He grabs my wrist harshly. “No.” A gasp escapes me as his grip becomes crushing; his fingers, I know, will leave bruises; ones I will have to try to hide from the girls.

My chest tightens, so I nod. “Okay.”

His grip relaxes. Then his tone shifts. “But I have a job for you.”

I go still. “What kind of job?” I ask, moving away to my cold coffee, before I can reach for it, he grabs me, spinning to face him so he can press me into the counter.

His eyes darken. “The girl in the basement. She’s coming up today. You’ll sit with her, Leone wants proof she is alive.”

My stomach drops. Fallon. He is letting her out?

“What’s going on?” I ask too fast. “Why is she coming upstairs?”

His gaze hardens. “That’s not your concern. You’ll watch her. Or I’ll make you watch while I fuck her in her tight ass.” Bile rises up my throat at his words, and he reaches for his phone. “I will bring her up when I’m done.”

“Done doing what?” I blurt in panic, and within seconds, his hand is around my throat.

“You dare question me?” I shake my head, and he watches my face carefully before leaning down to press his lips to mine briefly. “Get the girls inside while I handle this; it’s almost time for lunch.”