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Me at fifteen, smiling because I don’t know I’m already trapped. Asher beside me, with that grin he always got after telling a joke. And our parents standing with us, perfectly polished, their smiles like wax masks stretched over their faces.

Tears rise fast, but I crush them down with pure spite. I refuse to give them any softness.

I can feel Edwin watching me.

“Want me to steal it?” he asks.

I don’t look at him. My eyes stay fixed on that frozen moment when I still believed my mother’s control might be love and my father’s rules were for my safety.

“I want you to burn it,” I say flatly.

His arm reaches out to snatch the frame. I gasp and catch his hand, though I shouldn’t be surprised. This man would do anything for me, even set fire to a ballroom if I asked sweetly enough.

He pauses, eyes flicking to mine.

I swallow the lump in my throat and make myself do it. I lift the frame and flip it over, work the backing loose, and slide the photo out.

My parents don’t deserve to be beside us. Not with those fake smiles hiding the dark truth.

I tear off both sides of the photo. Once, right down the side of my father’s face. Again, through my mother’s smile. I don’t stop until their bodies are nothing but scraps of paper on the floor.

All that remains is the center. Me and Asher. My smile looks softer now that theirs are gone. I press the torn edges flat, like I can make the moment whole again.

Then I hand it to Edwin. “Keep this.”

His fingers close around it carefully, understanding what I’m giving him. This piece of my heart that never got closure. He slips it inside his jacket pocket without a word.

“Back from the dead?”

I turn to find the most punchable face in the room. Toby Alcott.

“Thought you killed yourself,” he says.

I catch Edwin’s arm just as it tenses.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. “Your dad said he wouldn’t help mine anymore.”

He shrugs while staring right at my cleavage.

“Open bar.” He drags his eyes back up to mine, then to Edwin. “Dad said to be here.”

Toby looks across the room, and I follow his gaze. Senator Alcott sits at a table with a small group, sipping a drink. He offers me a nod.

“Don’t think Daddy will save you,” Edwin says.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Edwin, it’s fine.” I lace my fingers with his before he starts a fight. “Let’s go.”

“Edwin?” Toby asks. Then he sighs and shakes his head with his eyes closed. “Fuck.”

“Recruitment is coming up, isn’t it?” Edwin keeps his eyes on Toby, pinning him in place. “A legacy like you should be a shoo-in.”

Toby swallows and reaches out to Edwin. “The past is in the past, man.” Then he turns to me. “I apologize for my behavior before. That’s not me.”

Edwin takes his hand and shakes it politely. Then he squeezes. Harder and harder.

Toby winces, his hand held captive in a vise grip. He grunts as he sinks to one knee. I look down my nose at him as a grin pulls at my mouth.