Her jaw clenched. “But around that time, Mom brought in someone—an old friend who used to know my father. She paid him to find and kill him. She said once he was gone, we could finally have peace. She even promised to split the money from the sales of her properties: one share for Darian to start his firm, one for me to start fresh, and one for her to disappear from Mooncrest.”
Lacy exhaled hard, full of shame. “I pretended to be happy. But I couldn’t let her do it. I told my father. He had the man taken out before he could act. I felt awful about it—but my father convinced me it was necessary. He said the man could’ve led the Nighthorns straight to him.”
She dropped her gaze, her voice growing softer.
“Two days later, my father called. He said William would deliver something—a sleeping
