The house was quiet when I returned from Celeste’s, but the stillness did nothing to calm the storm inside me. Every step through the hallway, every creak of the floorboards, reminded me that danger was not behind us. Celeste’s obsession with revenge lingered like a shadow, one I could not ignore. I had seen the fire in her eyes, the raw, unrelenting rage that she blamed on loss. And even if she seemed momentarily restrained, I knew better.

Isabella was in the living room, sitting on the ...