Tessa's jaw clenched. "So you feed others to the same monster eating you alive?"

"I do what I have to," Clarissa snapped. "You think I sleep at night? You think I don't hear the screams, or see the blood? I hear it all. I see it. And I keep going because if I stop—if I stop—then there's no money for the medicine, no roof for my daughter, no food. Nothing."

"And what about them?" Tessa whispered. "What about girls like Alice?"

Clarissa looked away. "They knew the rules."

"No pregnancies," Tessa said slowly, as if the words were poison.

"No attachments. No disobedience. No questions," Clarissa finished grimly. "Alice broke...