“When you found out about Dad—what he did and what was done to him.” That was the first time Savannah had ever referred to what their father had done. Gigi wondered what the duchess had told her. Savannah looked down—not at the kitten in her lap but at an object in her right hand.
A ring.
Dad’s wedding ring.
“He’s ashes.” Savannah stared at that ring. “There is no body. There’s nothing left. Justthis. I don’t know how the duchess and her lot obtained this, but they did.”
Now it was Gigi’s turn to stare at the ring. She knew what kind of man her father had been. She knew what he’d done, what he’d been capable of. And even setting that aside, Gigi knew her dad hadn’t been the kind of husband her mom deserved. He definitely hadn’t been the perfect father, but hehadbeen her dad, and despite everything, looking at the ring had the good times flashing through Gigi’s head, because therehadbeen good times.
Hating the man wouldn’t have hurt if she’d never loved him at all.
Gigi took a deep breath. The natural follow-up to what she’d just been told probably would have been asking Savannah what she was going to do with that ring, but Gigi didn’t, because sometimes, faith was a simple thing. And sometimes, when it felt like the whole damn world was on the verge of ending, all you could do was decide who you wanted to spend the apocalypse with.
If bad news came in, if the worst happened—Gigi had chosen to hear about ithere. With Savannah.
“Why aren’t you asking me what I’m going to do with this ring?”
Gigi shook her head and managed the tiniest, crooked smile. “You know why.”
“Because I’m your Savannah.” Her twin’s voicealmostbroke. “And you’re an optimist.” The next thing Gigi knew, her sister was pressing their father’s wedding ring into her palm. “I don’t want it.” Savannah was not the type to whisper anything, but her voice was faint. “Thering. Revenge. I don’t want any of it. I don’t want to want anything ever again.”
The kitten stirred on Savannah’s lap.
“You decide.” Savannah closed Gigi’s fingers around the ring. “You decide, Gigi. Not me.”
I can’t, Gigi thought, but she didn’t say it, because it wasn’t true. Shecould. “I make no promises,” Gigi warned her sister.
“You make all the promises.” Savannah stroked the kitten. “I can’t believe you thought I said yes. You really thought I would do that to you? That I would leave you after I made you promise not to leave me?”
“You did leave me,” Gigi blurted out. “You left me in the bayou and went to London without me. I’m not helpless, Savannah. You should have taken me with you or at least had the guts to tell me to my face that you didn’t want to.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Savannah said nothing else for the longest time. “But the best part of me,” she said finally, her voice actually breaking this time, “has always been the part that loves you. Sometimes, I think it’s the only part of me that isn’t defective—or broken.”
Gigi’s heart hurt, just hearing her sister say the words. “Is this about Rohan?” Gigi knew that was an emotional landmine, but the question had to be asked, because Savannah didn’t know where Rohan was right now.
She didn’t know that he’d gone after her.
“Do not say that name to me. Not now. Not ever again, Gigi.”
That was going to be a problem, but fortunately, Gigi was a problem solver. “I shall call him…Consuelo.”
“Please don’t.”
“Consuelothought the Gilded Blade had you. He went after you.” Gigi wished she could stop there. “No one’s heard from him since.”
Savannah’s expression shifted bit by bit until her face could have doubled as a work of art:A Study in Abject, Ball-Kicking Fury.“That bastard,” Savannah swore. “I amdone. I could not have been clearer that I was done.”
“I’m sure you were very clear,” Gigi assured her sister. “But apparently,heisn’t done. Antiheroes, am I right?”
“I hate him,” Savannah said, the words equal parts curse and vow.
“Clearly and very much.”
“Ihate him.” The kitten in Savannah’s lap nipped at her fingers.
Gigi laid her head on her sister’s shoulder. “You like him. A lot.”
“I hate his smirk. I hate his smile. I despise the way he touched me and the way he made me feel. I loathe his wagers.” Savannah’s voice shook. “I hate the way he wouldn’t stop calling melove. So much.”
