For ten blissful days, my sister and I share a home. Meals. Hair products. Makeup. Shopping trips. Massages, mani-pedis, facials. Afternoons on the beach. Evenings on the couch, our feet side by side on the coffee table, a movie muted or paused on the television while we expose our minds to one another. Our inner selves. Our twinned souls.

We’re not opposites, like Liam said. Not quite. Instead, we’re like two pieces of an incomplete puzzle. Separate, patterned and colored differently, but we still fit seamlessly together even if the rest of the pieces are missing, the bigger picture unknown.

On our first day together—after I slept for fourteen hours, stuffed my face, and rehydrated—I quickly learned that Alexis isn’t the woman she shows the world. When we’re alone, her mask drops. Her vocabulary expands. She doesn’t giggle as much, or flip her hair, or wear makeup. She’s not superficial, stupid, or narcissistic.

She’s perceptive and cunning. Intelligent and surprisingly philosophical. But also innocently optimistic. She believes in fate. That people are essentially good. That our father lives his life the way he does because of the necessity for darkness to balance the world’s light.

On our tenth day together, as we watch the sunset through the penthouse windows, I ask her if she’s ever thought of leaving.

She sighs. “I know he isn’t a good man, Eden. Even though he was strict and protective of me growing up, I saw things. Heard things.” She shrugs a little, turning toward me. “But he’s my dad. I love him. And I think you will too, once you get to know him.”

The boundaries of my Self blur, shift, then sharpen. So many questions bead on my tongue. So much longing for the truth. Where’s Liam? Where’s Elizabeth? Who do I trust?

I think I trust Alexis. Do I trust her? My recent past isn’t exactly overflowing with instances of good judgement. I haven’t told her about Chris’s threat, what I found in our mother’s safety deposit box, or the text message telling me to stay away from her.

I’d trusted Liam, but obviously that had been a mistake. Does he know where I am? Does he care? At the thought of him, my heart burns. Aches and folds into itself. Where are you, Liam?

“You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?” asks Alexis softly.

I sigh past the tightness in my chest, briefly wishing I hadn’t told her all the dirty details of what went down with Liam. “I just don’t know why he lied.”

She hums in sympathy. “Maybe he didn’t know how to tell you the truth.”

I glance sharply at her. “Like what? That he just wanted me gone? Seems a little elaborate.”

“Men like Liam feed off control. They don’t play the game with us mortals. They create the game board. Sometimes they like to flip it upside down and watch us fall.”

Her poetic musings familiar to me by now, I merely nod. “Maybe. Doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

She turns to stare at the darkening sky. “A few years ago, I had a giant crush on Liam.” At my glance, she smiles. “I think it was more about him being so forbidden than anything else. I knew he was a regular at Crossroads, so for about a month, I stalked that place trying to get close to him. This was before Chris’s promotion in the… organization. He was mine back then, had to do whatever I said. Oh, he was so pissed when I kept dragging him to the club.” She chuckles. “I’ve never seen him so uncomfortable, before or since.”

I hide my flinch by crossing my arms over my chest. The way Alexis talks about Chris… she cares about him. A lot. Maybe even loves him.

I have no idea how to reconcile her adoration of him with the evil asshole who threatened to rape me. So whenever he comes up, I shove the issue down with all the rest of my Think About Later problems.

“Did you find him? Liam?”

Alexis nods, a shadow crossing her expression even as she winks at me. “Let’s just say I’m not down for dominance. And before you ask, no, I didn’t sleep with him. He taught me a very public lesson about overstepping boundaries. I think that’s why Chris hates him so much.”

“What did he do?” I make myself ask.

She turns toward me, leaning a shoulder on the glass. “Tell me, Eden, what would you have done if Liam walked up to you and told you to get on your knees in front of a crowd of people.”

I don’t say anything, the answer written on my face.

Alexis nods, smiling softly. “I understand. Intellectually, at least. The freedom of giving up control. But therein lies the problem. I don’t have any control to begin with. It’s what I want, not what I want to give up.”

Adrenaline whispers along my limbs. This is the closest she’s come to admitting she’s not happy. That she wants a different life.

My sister. My complicated, funny, wise-beyond-her-years sister. If there’s even a fraction of a chance I can save her, I have to try.

“I know you love Maddoc—our father,” I begin hesitantly. “I know you’re loyal to him. But I think you also know that as long as you’re here, you won’t have control. You’ll marry who he tells you to marry. You’ll keep seeing and hearing things that darken your spirit.” I reach for her, grabbing her hand, and wait for her eyes to meet mine. “I won’t lie—freedom can be scary at times. Being responsible for your own life, your own choices and mistakes… But you don’t have to stay. I’m telling you, Alexis. Believe me, please. You don’t have to stay.”

“What are you saying?” she whispers.

I open my mouth to tell her the truth.

The front door crashes open, slamming against the wall. Alexis and I jerk in place, clutching one another, as six armed men in black fatigues spill into the room. They move fluidly, professionally, and wear earpieces and bulletproof vests.

The central figure walks toward us as the others jog down hallways, kicking open doors and shouting, “Clear! Clear!”

“Who the fuck are you?” snarls Alexis.

The unsmiling man reaches up, and we both flinch. Velcro rips to expose a badge on his vest.

FBI

“We have a warrant for the arrest of your father, Maddoc Donnelly.” Dark eyes veer to me, but show no sign of surprise. “Eden Sumner, I presume? Have you seen Maddoc recently?”

Alexis’s nails dig into my forearm. “Don’t answer that,” she snaps, then glares at the man. “I want to see the warrant allowing you access to my apartment, and I want to call my lawyer.”