Eve I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the phone in my lap like it was a venomous snake. The listening device I’d slipped onto Sage’s shirt during that kiss on the forehead had worked perfectly—too perfectly. Every word from that interrogation room had come through crystal clear, the voices tinny but unmistakable. Darrius’s mocking laugh. Alex’s hesitant confession. Sage’s fury and denial. And then the truth that had shattered everything. My hands shook as I clutched the phone tighter, the screen blurring through the tears that wouldn’t stop falling. I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t wrap my head around the enormity of the betrayal. Sage had lied to me. From the very beginning, he’d looked me in the eyes and told me Darrius was the monster who had slaughtered my family—my parents, my

