Page 99 of In Shadows We Dance

Operation Rossi Crown.

Your parents kept secrets.

Each phrase is like a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit, leaving me with more questions than answers. He knowssomething, something that will change everything I understand about my world.

Taking in breath after breath, I try to pull myself together, the reality of what I just did finally setting in. The dress clings to my body, the fabric heavy with the weight of what just happened. I need to get out of it. My hands shake as I strip it off, the silk sliding over my skin and pooling around my knees. I stare at it for a long moment before pushing myself to my feet and picking it up. I wipe my skin with my T-shirt, then stuff both that and the dress into my bag. The urge to hide it, to hide what it represents is overwhelming, but there’s no erasing how it made me feel.

I pull on my underwear, jeans and hoodie, and glance around the studio. Part of me expects him to be here, but the room is empty. He’s gone, leaving behind only silence and the echo of what we did.

The night air stings my skin as I step outside. The school grounds are eerily quiet, the soft rustle of leaves the only sound as I cross the courtyard and walk through the gates. My feet ache with every step, my muscles burning. But it’s my mind that hurts the most, racing with questions I’ve never dared to ask and truths I can no longer ignore.

The folded note in my pocket feels like it’s burning a hole through the material.

Alias established for James Charleston. Disappearance linked to incident.

My father's face flashes through my mind. The way he checks the locks, how he insists on cash-only payments, his rules about staying invisible. All the things I’ve taken for granted now feel like pieces of a larger lie.

A car drives past, moving too slowly, as I walk down the darkened street, and my heart stops.

Is it him? Is Wren still watching me?

The thought sends a rush of heat through me. An unwanted thrill that I shove down, refusing to let it take hold. I can’t think about that now. Not when I’m so close to home.

When I finally reach the apartment building, my hands are shaking. I unlock the door and step inside. The familiar hallway stretches out in front of me, but everything feels different now. Changed. Like Wren’s revelations have twisted the foundation of my life into something unrecognizable.

Dad's voice carries from the kitchen when I step inside our apartment. "Ileana? You're late."

“I was studying.” My heart races, my skin burning.

Is the truth obvious? Can he tell what I’ve really been doing?

His chair scrapes across the floor, and then he’s there, standing in the doorway. His arms are crossed, his stance rigid, but it’s his eyes that makes my pulse jump. Assessing. Knowing. They rake over me like a scalpel.

He knows something. Healwaysknows. It’s like he cansmellguilt, like he’s spent his entire life training to detect the tiniest cracks in someone’s armor. And I’mfullof cracks now. Split open by Wren’s hands, his words, and the things he’s made me feel.

I force myself to keep my expression blank. My bag is heavy on my shoulder, the dress tucked away inside like a secret begging to be discovered.

Has he noticed the flush in my skin? The tremor in my hands? The way I can’t quite meet his eyes for more than a second at a time?

I feel like a small child caught sneaking out after curfew, but this is worse. So much worse. This isn’t just breaking the rules.

“You were studying?” The words are more accusation than question.

“Yes.”

“Where?” The word is clipped, and something inside me snaps.

“Does it matter? Isn’t that what you want? For me to be the perfect little daughter who never attracts attention, never asks questions, never actuallylives?”

Behind him, Mom appears, hands soapy, a dish towel clutched between them.

“Watch your tone,” Dad says.

“Why?” I take a step forward, heart pounding so hard I can barely hear my own voice above it. “So I can keep pretending everything about our life is normal? So I can keep ignoring the way you act like the entire world is out to get us?”

“Ileana—” Mom’s voice is soft.

“This stops now. I won’t tolerate this attitude from you.”

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