Avery’s POV
And then he was gone. The one person I thought might be able to intervene, who might have been able to throw me a lifeline, instead turned and walked out my bedroom door.
He held all the cards, and instead of playing the hand that could have saved me, he had done the equivalent of politely folding.
As Dierdra and Gideon departed my room, the last vestiges of pride that had kept me standing exited as well. I barely missed hitting my head on the bedframe as I collapsed to the floor and sucked great lungfuls of air into my body.
My hands were shaking. 20 minutes of standing in a room with Gideon Nightwolf had drained me of every last bit of life.
He had pronounced his sentence. I was to be sent away.
I had seen the desperate, hunted look in his eyes while Dierdra had be
