LUCIEN’S POV

I stood there, rooted to the spot, my heart slamming against my ribs so hard I could hear it in my ears. Andrea looked up at me—those big brown eyes full of hope and pain—and it felt like someone had reached into my chest and squeezed.

I didn’t know what to say.

Nothing came. No words. No comfort. Just a roaring in my head as memories I’d buried deep clawed their way to the surface. My father’s voice, cold and cutting. The way he’d looked at me like I was nothing. Like I was a mistake he couldn’t erase. The cellar. The dark. The kicks. The hatred.

I’d...