Starlet: A Dark Retelling - Cora Kenborn Page 0,125

her?”

“I didn’t do anything. It’s what you did to her. Or don’t you remember? How easily the young mind molds…and breaks.”

“Did I kill Violet?” I ask quietly.

Moments pass as his hand strokes my hair. “No.”

“But Rosten said—”

“Rosten was trying to get inside your head. He always has.”

“But why would he hurt her?”

His hand stills in my hair. “He was watching.”

Confused, I turn around and look up at him. “What?”

Dominic closes his eyes, a hard look passing over his beautiful face. “He called me by name when I walked in, but his back was turned. He watched us from the window. Jesus Christ, he knew we were fighting.”

I don’t know what that means, yet I let that part stay locked up in Dominic’s head. As long as I know I didn’t hurt my friend, that’s enough for me.

But not for Dominic. When he looks down at me, those beautiful, icy blue eyes I love so much fill with pain. “It’s time you learned the truth. The whole truth. Everything.”

Holding me in my arms, he tells me everything. Every word out of Luciano Ricci’s mouth. He tells me about why he gave him the assignment. He tells me how he failed to protect my siblings. He tells me how he followed us to Phoenix then took me to a Vitoli-funded group home. He tells me how Luciano searched for me when I ran away, only finding me when Dominic exposed Paulo Bellini. He tells me he was the one who intercepted the DNA sample.

I listen quietly, not saying a word until he finishes. Then I ask the one question he didn’t offer. The one truth I need to know. “Who ordered the hit?”

“Rosten,” he says.

“Why?”

He winces but doesn’t hold back. “Rubio and I found buried molestation charges against him.”

I raise an eyebrow at the name but don’t question him. “Why were they buried?”

For the next few minutes I clench my hands together as he tells me about his meeting with Rubio and everything they found out. Every ugly detail about my father’s attempts to bring my abuser down and how the system failed us.

It takes me three times to find my voice. “So, Rosten ordered my family’s murders to make sure the world never knew he liked to fuck little girls?” My heart pounds and my pulse races as I leap to my feet.

“Rook…”

“All this is because my mother was a narcissistic bitch? I can’t remember eight years of my life because her fame was more important than her own daughter?” Everything starts to spin; I grab handfuls of my own hair, tugging at my scalp. “I have all these noises and dreams and scratches inside my head because my own mother bartered me like a fuck doll?”

When I open my eyes, Dominic is on his feet beside me. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ll help you.”

“It’s too late for that!” I scream. “Don’t you see that? Everyone’s voice is in there. It’s not just Alexandra’s. It’s my mother’s, too. I hear her, Dominic. I hear Rosten’s breath in my ear. It never goes away. Nothing is ever quiet. There’s always noise, and I’m so tired!” And dizzy. So dizzy that I lean forward and collapse against his chest.

His voice sounds broken as he holds me. “Christ, rook…”

“I don’t know who I am anymore,” I cry into his chest. “There are two sides of me constantly at war. One of them will eventually win. I’m scared to lose me, Dominic. Me. Angel Smith. Alexandra is stronger. She’s louder. She’s just so loud.”

And that’s my fear. What I’ve run from for weeks, months, maybe forever. This is her life. This is her body. It always has been. Me? Angel Smith? I’m just a placeholder. An actress playing a role. I’m not real. I’m a broken fragment of Alexandra’s mind. Her shield in the storm, and the barrier to her pain. But the storm is over, and the barrier is down, so there’s no use for me anymore. Like a toy left behind as a child grows up, I’ve served my purpose.

She’s going to take back what’s hers.

And what’s mine.

Dominic’s arms wrap around me tighter than ever. It’s almost as if he can feel the tether thinning. His lips press against the top of my head, his rough exhale blowing my hair. When he speaks, I hear the raw pain in his voice. “It’s okay to let go. You’re tired, rook. You fought hard so Alexandra didn’t have to. You protected her, and if you