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Annabel knew this was the end. She could see it in the way Mockel looked at her, like a shark circling his next meal. She knew, too, that he was not the sort to make empty threats; when he had promised to take her life, he meant it.

In her small, windowless cell at the Cherche-Midi prison, she paced, her heart hammering. She would die for this, for the family legacy she had tried so hard to honor. But her husband and daughters should not meet the same fate. They simply couldn’t.

“Have they found my daughter yet?” Annabel asked the German woman who seemed to be in charge of the female prisoners.

The large, broad-shouldered woman, who wore a black shirt emblazoned with the Nazi symbol, was obsequious to the Gestapo officers, but there was a hard glint in her steely gray eyes, and Annabel knew better than to trust her.

Still, she was desperate for news. “My younger one? Liliane?”

“No,” the woman said, the word clipped.

“You’re certain?” Annabel asked, bile rising in her throat.

“I expect she’s safe and sound.” The German overseer already sounded bored with the conversation.

“Why do you say that? Have you heard something?”

“It is just that with the situation you’re in… well, God couldn’t possibly be so cruel.”

“Oh,” Annabel said, her heart sinking. She tried to remind herself that at least the lack of news meant that nothing terrible had been confirmed yet. “I don’t believe in that, you see.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “You don’t believe in God?”

“That isn’t what I meant. It is just that God is not the one doing such terrible things in the world right now. I believe in God very much.”

“Well, let us see if he gets you out of this one.”

Annabel swallowed down her anger at the woman’s indifference. “And what of my husband, Roger, and my older daughter, Colette? Please, can you tell me anything?”

The German woman made a face like she’d just tasted something sour. “They are here,” she said after a moment.

“Here? In Cherche-Midi?” Annabel’s heart squeezed with fear. “Are they safe?”

“For now.”

“Are they hurt?” Annabel felt as if she might throw up, though she hadn’t eaten since her arrest.

“Not the girl,” the German said quickly, and Annabel exhaled. “But your husband…”

“Is he all right?”

“He’s alive, anyhow. The Gestapo had some questions for him.” She smirked.

Annabel’s stomach lurched with horror and guilt. “They didn’t hurt Colette?”

“Not as far as I know.” The woman seemed to be considering something before she leaned in and whispered, “Word is they will be released tomorrow. They know nothing.”

Annabel blinked back tears of relief. “Oh, thank goodness. Please, you must let me see them.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Please. I—I know what’s coming for me, and I just want to say…” She drew in a trembling breath. “I want to say goodbye. I will reward you handsomely, I promise.”

“You must know that the Gestapo have confiscated everything of value in your apartment,” the woman said, clearly unmoved by the tears spilling down Annabel’s cheeks.

“Yes, but there are other pieces, you see.” Annabel knew she was taking a chance. If the German woman reported her offer to the Gestapo, she would lose all her leverage. “Pieces that could make you rich.”

The Nazi woman studied her for a long time, her pudgy face a theater of conflicting emotions. Annabel watched as guilt and greed, compassion and fear waged war there, until finally, the woman’s expression went slack. “And how will you get these pieces to me?”

Annabel sagged in relief. “After they’re safe, I’ll tell you—”

“No.” The woman cut her off. “What if you’re lying? Or if they do not keep you alive that long? If you want me to help you, you must tell me now.”

She knew she couldn’t do that, for to tell the overseer the location of her hidden jewels, her insurance policy, would leave her with nothing to bargain with.

And she would take to her grave the secret of the bracelet sewn into Colette’s gown; if Mockel had any idea that the piece he desperately wanted was right here, beneath his nose, Annabel had no doubt that he’d punish Colette for harboring it, and she couldn’t let that happen.

No, the pieces would have to come from the outside.

“If you bring me to them, I will give my husband a letter,” Annabel said at last. “He will bring it to the person who is holding some of my valuables for me.”

“And what is it you are promising me?” Greed burned in the overseer’s eyes.

“A diamond ring with a stone as big as the pit of a cherry.” It was a piece Annabel had stolen just last week from a jewelry store that sold to Germans, owned by a collaborator who had betrayed several Jewish families in his neighborhood.

The woman stared at her. “This will not buy your freedom, you understand. You would give me something of such value simply for a chance to see your husband and daughter one last time?”

Annabel bowed her head. “Please. I must know they’re safe, see it with my own eyes. I never intended for them to be caught up in this.”

“Why did you do it, then? Why would you do things that put your family in so much danger?”

“I thought I was making a difference,” she replied, an answer that was true but that sounded foolish now.

“Mankind was not bettered by your thievery, then?” the woman asked, sounding amused. It turned Annabel’s stomach. “You give me your word that I will receive the ring?”

“Bring me a pen and paper, and I will write the letter now.”

The woman stared at her for a long time. “I will make trouble for your husband and child if you have misled me. They’ll be the ones to pay for your lie.”

Her heart skipped, but she forced herself to remain calm. “I understand.”

“Very well. Let me see what I can do.”

The German overseer came to Annabel’s cell sometime in the middle of the night, her face barely visible in the inky blackness.

Annabel hadn’t slept a wink, for she’d been determined to stay awake in case the woman came.

Now, the steely-eyed jailer put a finger to her lips, unlocked Annabel’s door, and beckoned for her to follow.

As the woman led Annabel through the darkened building, she said in a low voice, “Do you have the letter?”

Annabel nodded and held it up.

The overseer snatched it from her and mumbled something about reading it outside, and then she grabbed Annabel’s arm and squeezed. “You make any move to run, and I’ll shoot your daughter.”

“I understand.”

The woman brought Annabel into the back alley through a door at the rear of the building, and for a second, she was afraid that this had all been a trap. But then she saw Roger and Colette huddled by the door. Roger’s face was swollen, his lip split, his left eye blackened.

“My darlings,” she breathed.

Colette whimpered, “Mum!” But Roger just stared at her, not moving a muscle.

“You have one minute,” the guard said tersely.

Annabel pulled Colette to her, holding tight. “Roger, my dear,” she said as he continued to glare at her. “I’m so very sorry. I never intended for any of this to happen.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “And yet here we are.”

She blinked away the coldness in his tone. “I’m told you’ll be released soon,” she said. “You’ll find Liliane, Roger? You give me your word?”

He looked puzzled. “Of course, Annabel. I am her father.”

“You must take this letter to Frédéric, who has some of my things. The diamond ring is to go to the guard, by anonymous courier.”

Anger flickered in Roger’s expression as he pulled back. “To her?” he asked, glaring at the overseer, who glowered right back.

“Please. They’ll come for you if she doesn’t get the ring.”

“Fine. I’ll take care of it.”

“And once you’ve found Liliane, you all must leave our apartment immediately, in case the Germans return for you.”

“But it is my apartment,” Roger protested. “It was handed down to me by my parents, Annabel.”

“And it is the first place they will look for you and the children if they have more questions for you, Roger. Talk to Frédéric; he will help you find somewhere else to spend the remainder of the war.”

He looked into her eyes for a long time, and she forced herself not to look away.

As they stood there, she could so clearly see a time not so long ago when they stood just like this, gazing at each other, waiting to say their vows.

They had been so na?ve, so happy, with no idea of what was coming.

She hadn’t known just how much the years could change a person.

Or was this who he’d always been, and it was just that, at last, the veneer had fallen away?

“Very well,” he said finally.

She had been holding Colette the whole time they talked, and now, as the overseer cleared her throat pointedly, Annabel turned to her older daughter.

“You and your father must find Liliane as soon as you’re released,” Annabel said, doing her best not to cry. “Promise me, my love.”

“I promise,” Colette said, her voice small. “But aren’t you coming with us?”

Annabel shook her head, her heart aching for all the things she would miss.

She wouldn’t get to see her daughters grow up; she wouldn’t get to tell them every day how proud she was to be their mother; she wouldn’t get to hold grandchildren in her arms. “I will always be with you, my love,” she said.

“Teach your children to be brave and strong and good, as you are, and I will be there in your every moment.”

“It’s time,” the overseer grunted.

Annabel pulled Colette close once more, for what she knew would be the last time. “Find your sister,” she repeated, “and know that I will love you both for all eternity.”

“ Kyi-kyi-kyi ,” Colette whispered through tears.

“ Ko-ko-ko , my love,” Annabel replied, her throat closing. “I’ll be with you always.”

Colette was crying as the overseer shoved her roughly away, but there was no time to comfort her because the woman was already dragging Annabel back toward the door.

“Back to your cells,” the overseer barked at Roger. “You’ll be released in the morning.”

“What about my mother?” Colette asked.

The overseer just shook her head, and a shiver ran through Annabel as she saw understanding spark in her daughter’s eyes. Colette’s horrified gaze turned to her, and it nearly broke Annabel.

“I’m so sorry, Colette,” Annabel said, her voice cracking, but then Roger grabbed Colette’s hand and began to pull her away. “I love you, my darling.”

“I love you, too, Mum.” Colette kept her eyes fixed on Annabel until they disappeared into the darkness, but Roger didn’t look back even once.