A woman who had never once been certain she was loved for herself, buying herself the chance to find out.

The failing grade I was handing him across this table was not a victory.

It was the confirmation of the loneliest thing I had ever suspected about my own life — that the disguise had not been a test he could fail, but a mirror, and that the reflection had been the same one I’d been looking at since I was a girl.

Chapter 15 — The Alert

Imelda shot to her feet, her chair screeching.

“This is a trick.