Violet 

I was genuinely scared Matthew would do something. I’d never seen him that angry, and there was no way I was going to be stupid enough to admit I’d slept with his father, or that I was going to marry him. If I said it, he’d snap. He could hit me, strangle me; I wasn’t about to hand Sebastian a world without a big sister. And I’d watched enough true-crime to know how it ends, a body, a headline, and a funeral. I wouldn’t make my brother an orphan.

If worst came to worst I’d kick him where it hurts and run. That was the plan. It felt childish,...