I pulled a hand through my hair and tried my best to take a breath and calm my wildly beating heart. But the thought alone was busy scraping against my skull, and I had to know that I was wrong.Please God, let me be wrong.

I inhaled deeply. “I just…can I please see the key, Elena?”

“I’m sorry, dear, but I have no idea what key you’re talking about. Now, if you’d please come back a little later. I was just about to rest for a while. I’m exhausted.”

“Elena, I’m sorry. But I need to see that key. The key I found in your bag, which you said was a souvenir.” I placed my hand on my forehead trying to think of her words. “You said it was a souvenir of the day you found…” I stilled, the memory of her words slowly trickling into my mind, the final piece of the puzzle slipping into place. “The day you found the door that led you to the peace you’ve always longed for.” I sucked in a breath as my heart splintered inside my chest. I narrowed my eyes. “It was you. It was you who locked that door from the outside.”

For a split second, her expression darkened, but she managed to slip the mask of ignorance back on. “I’m sorry, Mila. But I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re lying.” My voice shook, my heart still racing with disbelief. “Where is the key?”

She stared at me as if she pitied me. As if I had lost my mind. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you sure you’re okay?” She stepped closer, wanting to place a palm on my forehead, but I yanked back, refusing to let her touch me.

“We were in this room. I pulled the key from your bag, and you said it was a souvenir.”

She let out a half-hearted laugh. “Oh, my dear child. I think you need to get some rest.”

“Elena!” I yelled as frustration got the better of me. “Stop lying.”

“What the fuck is going on here?” Saint walked in, dark brows furrowed as he glanced from me to Elena, then back to me.

“She has the key, Saint,” I blurted. “She has this key in her handbag. I saw it.”

“What fucking key?”

Shit. My mind was reeling. I had to calm down so I could sort through my thoughts. I walked up to him and lowered my voice. “Your dad. He told me about how—”

Saint held up his hand, silencing me like I was nothing but a petulant child. “I told you. I don’t want to know any of the lies he told you.”

“It’s not lies. Just, there’s this key—”

“Wait,” Elena chimed in, “did you—”

“Yes,” Saint replied with a sneer, “she went to see my father behind my back.”

“What?” I glanced from Saint to Elena and suddenly had the feeling I was standing on my own. “No. Just listen to me.”

“I told you, Marcello,” Elena crossed her arms, her dark brown eyes glaring at me with disappointment, “I told you she doesn’t believe you.”

“That is not true.”

Elena stepped closer, her white robe brushing around her ankles. “Then why go behind Marcello’s back to see the one man who caused this family so much pain?”

“I just wanted answers,” I bit out between clenched teeth.

“Answers Marcello couldn’t give you?”

“That is not—”

“Mila.” Saint’s voice cracked through the room like lightning. “Stop this.” He tried to grab my arm, but I jerked away.

“No!” I blurted. “No. I will not let you treat me like a fucking child. If you will just listen to me for two fucking minutes—”

“To spread the lies?” Elena dropped her arms at her sides.

I locked eyes with Saint, silently pleading that he would listen to me. That would he give me a chance, as his wife, to say what I needed to say.

Elena moved toward her bedroom door. “We don’t—”