The countdown began at fifty-nine minutes and fifty-seven seconds.
NEW CUSTODY PARTNER REQUIRED.
The words glowed across my mother's locket as if they had been waiting for my marriage to fail.
Luca stood beside me, close enough that his shoulder touched mine.
He did not look at the timer.
He looked at the word unmarried.
Dante saw it too.
"So Vittorio found a way to remove you," he said.
Luca's jaw tightened. "He removed Bellini."
"To the Ledger, that was enough."
"No," I said.
Three men looked at me.
I held the locket higher.
"The Ledger recognized Moretti blood, Valenti custody, and Russo claim. It did not ask for a husband until someone taught it to."
Matteo pressed one hand to his wounded shoulder.
"Systems inherit the language of the people who control them."
"Then we
