Chapter 9: The ReckoningWe didn't burn the nursery.Not that night, anyway. Lucien stood in the doorway for a long time, staring at the crib, the mobile, the tiny dresses his mother had sewn by hand. His jaw kept tightening and loosening, like he was trying to chew through the truth and swallow it whole.I waited.Sometimes that's all you can do for someone. Just stand there and let them fall apart without forcing them to put the pieces back together before they're ready."She named her," Lucien said finally. "My mother. She named the baby.""How do you know?"He walked to the crib. Reached inside. When he turned back, he was holding a small bracelet—the kind hospitals put on newborns. The name was handwritten on a piece of tape, the ink faded but still readable.Hope Black."Hope," I whispered."She never had a chance." Lucien's voice cracked. "Neither of them did. And I spent twenty years blaming the wrong man.""Your father—""Was a monster." He laughed, but there was no humor in
最終更新日 : 2026-04-24 続きを読む