"And the emotional abuse?" Kieran's voice is ice. "Blaming her for her mother's death? Treating her like she wasn't wanted? How did that protect her?"
"I thought if she seemed ordinary, unremarkable, she'd be safer." Marcus won't meet their eyes. "If I showed her too much affection, if I treated her as special, questions would be asked. People would look closer. So I kept my distance."
"You broke her." I'm speaking before I can stop myself, my voice raw. "You made me think I was worthless, that I'd killed my mother just by existing. Do you have any idea what that did to me?"
"Isla, I'm sorry—"
"Sorry doesn't fix twenty-five years of emotional neglect!" My hands are shaking. "Sorry doesn't explain why Morganna seems to know everything about me. How did she find me, Marcus? Who told her
