Two days later, Lorenzo came back and she showed him the video, Anita had sent to her. The footage was grainy in the way that cheap cameras always were, but it was clear enough. Clear enough to see her aunt lift her glass. Clear enough to see the wide, unguarded smile that spread across her face — the kind Natalie hadn't seen directed at her in years. Clear enough to hear her say, *to victory*, like she hadn't spent the better part of two decades pretending to love the girl she was toasting against. Natalie watched it three times. The first time, her chest hurt. The second time, her jaw tightened. The third time, she felt nothing at all. Just a cold, quiet settling — like the last piece of a puzzle clicking into place in the dark. She closed the laptop. Lorenzo was across the room, standing at the window with his back to her, hands in his pockets, watching the city below the way he always did when he was thinking. She had learned to read him in the silences. This one was shar
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