Chapter 68: Anastasia

I double-knot Luna’s red sneakers, my fingers catching on the laces because my hands will not stop shaking. I pull the knots tight, perhaps too tight, because she shifts her small foot and looks down at me.

"Is that okay, sweetie?" I ask. My voice is too bright, too forced. It sounds like a bad imitation of myself.

"It’s okay, Mommy," Luna whispers. She has her stuffed rabbit tucked firmly under her arm, its gray fur worn thin from years of being squeezed.

The three-carat emerald-cut diamond my father’s assistant delivered to the estate at seven o’clock this morning sits cold on my left ring finger.I can't...