Vanessa stepped into the light.
She looked nothing like I expected. In my mind, she was a monster—twisted, angry, obviously dangerous. But she was just... ordinary. Pretty in a forgettable way. Brown hair pulled back. Jeans and a sweater. She could have been anyone.
But her eyes told the truth. They were flat. Empty. The eyes of someone who'd stopped seeing other people as real.
"Quite a party," she said, smiling. "All my favorite people in one place."
Marcus kept his gun raised. "Stop right there."
"Oh please." She waved a hand. "You're not going to shoot me. Not with all these witnesses. Not with the baby right there."
Sofia had stopped crying. She was watching Vanessa with the strange focus of children who sense danger before they understand it.
"Vanessa." Alexander's voice was s
