Every minute in that room felt like a blade slowly slicing through my chest.

I couldn't sit down. I couldn't rest. My legs carried me back and forth across the rug until the soles of my shoes felt warm against the cold floor. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Greenwood’s cruel, smiling face. I saw my sweet, helpless boy shivering in a dark cellar, crying out for a mother who wasn't there to protect him.

My throat burned from hours of sobbing, raw and dry as bone. I had clawed at the door until my nails bled, screaming Malakai’s name, screaming for someone, anyone, to...