Carina pov
I placed his sunglasses in his hand and stood back.
Mr. Cole had already wrapped Damien's forearm in clean white gauze and the room had settled into a quiet that felt too deliberate, the kind that meant someone was about to say something that had been sitting with them for a while.
Damien put his glasses on and turned his face toward me.
"Someone explain to me what is happening," I said.
Nobody spoke immediately. I looked at Mr. Cole and then at John and then back at Damien.
"Your uncle sent Lizzie," I said. "And now Lydia. Lizzie to spy on you and Lydia to do what, kill you? Is that what we are saying?"
"Yes," Damien said.
Just that. One word. As if it were the most ordinary answer in the world.
I stared at him. "Why? Why would your own uncle want you dead?"
"The Ashf
