Dante’s House
Dante and Margaret had crafted their cruelty with precision. Since every attempt to destroy Zara had failed and murder was too great a risk they had conceived something colder, more calculated: separate mother and child forever. If Lilly vanished overseas, lost in another world, Zara would break.
Dante had even hired someone to search for a new school abroad, somewhere Lilly could disappear without a trace. When he learned which school she currently attended, he didn’t delegate; he went himself.
That evening , just before Lilly could board the school bus, he called her name.
She froze.
He was her father, she knew his face, his voice yet something in her small chest trembled. Still, when he spoke gently, coating his lies with sweetness, promising treats and warmth and saf
