The revelation about my father sat in my stomach like a piece of cold lead. I stumbled out of Marcus’s safe house, my bare feet hitting the wet pavement, but I didn't even feel the stones cutting into my skin.
My mother, the woman who had tried to save the world from Pierce, had been betrayed by the man who was supposed to be her protector. Every memory of my father tucked me in at night or teaching me to ride a bike felt like a lie. It was a poison spreading through my blood.
I made it back to my miserable motel room just as the first streaks of gray morning light bled through the grime on the window. The room was freezing, the air smelling of old dust and the cheap soap I’d used to scrub the city’s filth off my arms. I sat on the edge of the bed, my body vibrating with a bone-deep exh
