***
Guilt.
It sat in Jace’s eyes like a bruise he’d never let heal.
My hands went cold. “Jace… what did he mean? What does Roman Vale know about my father?”
He didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t. His mouth opened, closed, opened again.
The silence between us screamed louder than words ever could.
“Tell me the truth,” I demanded, my voice trembling. “Don’t you dare lie to me right now.”
He turned away, running a hand through his hair, pacing like a man on the edge of a confession he couldn’t bury any longer.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this,” he said quietly.
“You knew. You knew, didn’t you?”
He turned back to me slowly. “Leah… your father wasn’t just a victim. He wasn’t just caught in the fire of Westview’s corruption. He was the fire.”
My breath caught.
“No,” I whis
