Page 106 of Forbidden Fate

The gunfire continues around us, but it sounds far away now. Muffled. Like I’m underwater.

Ştefan looks up at me. His mouth opens. Blood bubbles at the corner.

His eyes look into mine, and for a moment, I think he can see straight through me. Straight to the truth.

And in those eyes I see something.

Not anger.

Not fear.

I see betrayal.

And I wonder who the true monster is.

32

CRUZ

Robin is silent for several minutes.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask.

She doesn’t look at me right away.

Her gaze stays on the window. A moment passes. Then, “I meant it when I said I want to help you. I want to use my family’s means to help you. At the very least, as thanks for getting me out of that place.”

I rub my jaw. It’s so tight and sore from constantly clenching it. “I’m also the one who put you in that place.”

She twists her lips. “Trust me, I know. I can’t erase the fact that you were my captor.”

I sigh. “I don’t expect you to.”

She shakes her head. “I know you don’t. But you did get me out of there, and I’m not taking that away from you. You risked your life. You brought me here. But before that, you were still part of what happened to me.”

“Yes.”

“I need to know,” she says.

“What?”

“Everything.”

What?

I look at the sofa, the table, the faded yellow walls, the place where my mother once sat with Señora V, laughing over coffee. I think about all the truths I’ve buried because silence kept me breathing. Because Vega rewarded men who knew when not to speak.

Robin draws in a breath. “You need to lay out your whole life for me right now.”

“My whole life?”

“As much as matters.”

“That could take a while.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

The bitterness of that nearly makes me laugh.