A pause. “I’m sorry, angel.” My heart left my body to float in the distance while tears poured down my cheeks. Rejection dug its claws into my cold skin. “You will do this for me, Mila. Don’t let me die not knowing what will happen to you.” I wasn’t going to marry Carter. Not if I was so poor I had to live on the streets. I would never subject myself to the life I’d felt so lost in. But I also didn’t have the heart to deny my papa’s last wish. Even if it was a lie. “Okay,” I said softly. “I will.” Ronan gripped the headboard, and I heard a crack. Papa exhaled. “I am glad, angel. I have to go now.” “Wait,” I blurted. The question needed no permission. It escaped from the depths of me like a volcano. “Was the woman you murdered that night my mother?” I didn’t need to clarify I spoke of the blonde lying in a puddle of blood on our library floor. He knew who I meant by the sticky silence on the other end of the line, but he never got a chance to reply. Ronan grabbed the phone and ended the call. Numb, I sat there, ice spreading through my veins. Because I knew the truth. I knew my papa killed my mother. I knew it was her blood that stained my stuffed animal and childhood memories. And Ronan knew too. OceanofPDF.com