Through the huge glass window, she stared down at the city below her while tapping her heels. She had waited for what seemed like an hour before the door behind her finally opened.

Without turning around to see who it was, she spoke to the air, almost like she was speaking to the universe. “What is it that makes a person just”—lifting manicured fingers, she snapped them—“snap?”

“Who are we talking about?” Lucca asked, stopping beside her to stare out at the city.

Truthfully, she wanted to know why anyone would, but right now, she would settle on just one. “Joey.”

Not wanting to beat around the bush, he got on with it. “What did you come here for, Maria?”

“I want to know what you’re going to do with him.”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“And the others? Do you know who they were?” A hard expression seeped onto the pretty blonde’s face.

“What does it matter to you?” Lucca looked at his sister. “I thought you didn’t like Angel.”

Her heartless voice matched her heartless soul. “I don’t, but I don’t like traitors either.”

“Neither do I,” he agreed, looking back out at the city.

“So, who were they?”

With a sigh, he didn’t seem pleased when he responded, “I haven’t figured that out yet either.”

Shaking her head, she looked at him from the corner of her eyes. “I think you might be losing your touch, brother.”

“And you think you could do better?” Amused by his own question, he didn’t anticipate his little sister’s reply.

“Oh, I know I could,” she told him without an inkling of a doubt in her mind. She turned around to face him, not letting him underestimate her. “Do you really think you would be the one to sit on the throne if I weren’t born a woman?”

Lucca’s intense blue-green eyes had a question of his own. “Do you know what rules are for, Maria?”

Now it was his reply that she hadn’t anticipated.

“They are meant to keep weak men from breaking, and given for great men to break.”

* * *

One … Two … Three … Four … Angel didn’t know how long it had been since the closet door had been closed.

Five … Six … Seven … Eight … All he knew was that he was hungry, thirsty, and in pain.

Nine … Ten … Eleven … Twelve … And even though it was pitch-black in there, he felt like the already tiny space had somehow grown smaller and smaller with each passing hour.

Thirteen … Fourteen … Fifteen … It was almost like a game to see who would crack first. To see who would break first. Either his father would by unlocking the door, or Angel’s mind would break before his father even came to the door.

The best part of the game was that neither of them would know who won until the door opened. It was a sick game of outlast, and they both would be damned if they lost.

Sixteen … Seventeen … Eighteen … The counting helped to keep him sane. He didn’t know how many times he had started back at one, but it kept his mind occupied when he couldn’t sleep in the darkness.

A crack of light finally showed under the door, giving him a little glimmer of brightness. Thinking his father had come into the room, he thought he was finally free.

It wasn’t until a piece of candy was slid under the door that he realized he was far from saved.

Angel just stared at the candy with a tear streaming down his face.

“Are you holding up in there, Angel?” Dominic’s worried voice came through from the other side when he didn’t take it.

Wiping away the tear, he took the gift. “I’m okay,” he managed to get out of his dry throat.

“Suck on it for as long as you can; it’ll help.”

He unwrapped the hard piece of red, glossy candy; the cherry flavor exploded in his mouth and his dry throat started to produce saliva.

The shadow under the door showed his brother was still there.

“How’s Matthias?”

Silence grew until Dominic finally answered, “He’s better.”

That answer gave him a shiver up his spine. Not until he was set free would he know if his twin came out all right on the other side.

“You’re different than him.” Dominic’s voice was almost ominous, like it didn’t belong to a teenage boy. Then again, a boy like him had never gotten to be a kid, let alone a teenager. There were five years between them. Five long years Dominic had had to spend on this earth alone with the devil. How he had survived, no one knew. No one even knew if Dominic had the answer to that. “You have to be the strong one, Angel. You might not break if he does. But if you break, he breaks.”

His words of wisdom were all he left him with when he walked away, leaving him to the darkness.

It wasn’t until hours later, with those words swirling through his head, that he realized the severity of them.

To keep his twin meant to protect Matthias and sacrifice himself to the darkness. It was something he had done once, but now he understood he was going to have to do it every time. Matthias’s weakness would have to become his strength. His fear would have to become Angel’s friend.

Placing his little hands on the door, he felt around, tracing the walls around him. With each touch, what were once walls had slowly become his cage.

As he breathed heavily, the trapped feeling started to close in around him. If he was lucky, he would be in there until the moment right before he broke. The next time, he could only hope he could last longer, and longer, repeatedly, each time being released right before he lost it all. Then maybe one day …

… A sweaty Angel awoke from another nightmare. Knowing he’d had too many in a row, he made himself get up off the bed and grabbed his pillow.

Staring at a sliding door, he finally slid it open to reveal a closet.

Angel threw his pillow down on the closet floor before going in and lying down on the floor.

The hard surface hurt his injuries at first, but then he managed to get somewhat comfortable enough to sleep. It wasn’t until he slid the door closed again and caged himself in that he greeted his old friend.

It was funny a thing … When he pulled his hands from his cage, the darkness didn’t allow him to see it. It was only there if he decided to reach out and touch it.