Marco's POV:
Cassidy and I didn’t grow up together.
There are no shared memories. No childhood stories. No history softened by time.
We met in blood and fear.
That’s the truth I live with.
I didn’t know she existed until Lacy took her. Until everything I thought I understood about my family cracked open and spilled something human out of the wreckage.
A sister.
Not one I protected. One I failed.
I stand alone in the hallway, hands clenched at my sides, staring at the wall like it might absolve me if I look long enough. It doesn’t.
Matteo never lifted a finger himself. He never had to. Lacy did the work — planned it, ordered it, cleaned it. Matteo just waited. Watched. Took what was handed to him.
Including her.
And I was there.
That’s the part that eats me alive.
I didn’t know
