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ACT 1 — THE FAIRGROUND “I have nothing left to feed them.” Grace Whitfield did not know this man. She did not know his land or what it would one day cost her to stay on it. She only knew her children were hungry. And for as long as she could remember, that had always…

ACT 1 — THE MIDNIGHT KNOCK The knock on my front door came just as the old grandfather clock struck midnight. I almost ignored it. Nothing good ever seemed to arrive after dark, especially after the hardest year of my life. But when I opened the door, I found a woman standing on my porch…

ACT 1 — THE EMPTY BENCH The train station was louder than ever that afternoon. But somehow, in the middle of hundreds of hurried strangers, one quiet voice reached me more clearly than every announcement echoing through the speakers. I had spent years believing that the biggest moments in life came with warning signs, dramatic…

ACT 1 — THE RAIN The night Cassian Ror decided he wanted her, Neva Halt was standing in the rain outside a pawn shop, trying to figure out if her mother’s bracelet was worth enough to cover February rent. She didn’t know that yet. She didn’t know anything about him. She was 24 years old…

ACT 1 — THE BEGINNING Elena Carrington had built her reputation on knowing exactly what something was worth. She could walk into a failing company, read three-quarters of the financial reports, and tell you within 20 minutes whether it was worth saving or worth selling. She had done it 47 times in 12 years. She…

ACT 1 — THE HIDDEN BEGINNING Galani had not always been this cruel. 10 years earlier, he had loved her—or something close to it. Yumna met Galani when his family firm was small and hungry. Coleman and Associates—two floors and a name that meant nothing yet. She was quiet, careful. She never talked about money,…

ACT 1 — THE ASK The restaurant was my mother’s choice. A quiet place with white tablecloths and the kind of lighting that made everyone look like they’d just had good news. I should have known this lunch was a trap when June insisted on sitting across from me instead of next to me. “So,…

“I know.” She looked down fast. “Bad timing. Terrible timing. Maybe the worst timing ever recorded. Forget I said that.” “That’s not something you say and take back.” “I can try.” “You’re bad at lying.” A sad little smile touched her mouth. Clearly. I should have stepped away. I should have remembered every rule, every…

ACT 1 — THE HOMECOMING The key had barely turned in the lock when my roommate came flying down the hallway in bare feet, wearing one of my old Air Force hoodies. Sophie Bennett hit me so hard my duffel bag dropped to the floor. Then she wrapped both arms around my neck and held…

The red dot appeared on the gravel 3 seconds before the shot. Nobody saw it except the boy. Because the boy had learned a long time ago that the world only gave you 3 seconds between the moment danger showed itself and the moment it arrived. He’d learned that lesson at age nine in a…