SIENNA

“Stay away from him, Sienna.”

Mom’s voice was low and sharp against my ear by the ice cooler, the way she used to talk when I was sixteen and she caught me sneaking out. Claire Cole didn’t raise her voice in public. She didn’t need to. Twenty-three years of being her only daughter had taught me that quiet tone meant real danger.

“He’s not like the boys you know. He doesn’t stay. He takes what he wants and leaves the rest in pieces.”

I nodded like the good daughter I’d been pretending to be since Dad left when I was twelve. The lie tasted sweet. My pulse was already...