ACT OF

Ast

t: The Woman in

Castella

n Bell

e library, down the grand stai

lders were rigid, his jaw tight, and for once I d

t he was

Adrian B

tinted window. "His father founded Bellandi Holdings

ear your fa

es

lieve it was

nce answ

e you been in

r ye

r. It explained so much: the obsession with the Accordo, the secrets, the way he looked at that p

ell me yesterday?

ow if I coul

han it should h

atening your family to hide the truth from

notebook. For once

-

old trees. Two of Dante's men stood nea

xcessive,"

refer they w

N

we a

ound so

hed. I pretende

er arms before I could set down my bag. "Are you a

m f

elt the old ache of being a child again. Then her

an

ok she saved for people she suspected o

wed her into the kitchen. "Tell me

needed to persuade you to stop looking into your grandfather's busine

oes tha

thi

the

e counter. "Pl

ne while someone threatens us." My voic

ldn't answer. Then, barely audible: "Your gra

to shift. "What

I overheard him arguing with someone. He was frightened. I had never seen him frigh

hing. "Why didn

e me pr

n dead fo

roke, and she pressed

d felt how small she was, how fragile.

erve to know. I only

adied, then wiped the tears from h

ything, or if our families had done something far worse than

-

e what she'd said. For the first

e Castellanos possessed somet

leaned forward. "What if the Accordo wasn't made to unite our

t. Neither

acket and laid it on the table. "I f

ndfather, younger but unmistakable. One I didn't k

llandi," D

child. I turned the photograph over. A dat

everything

tened. "Do you

N

something in the shape of the eyes made my heart

me out small. "That

ept across the curtain

oked at me with an expression I couldn't read.

nty-

l you anything a

d. "What does that hav

tened me more than anything else. "I think your gra

no longer felt like a s

ke a story