CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Ivy's POV

The Italian sun is too bright, pouring through the tall windows of Alessio's new house like it's trying to burn away my doubts. Michael and Mia are napping upstairs, their soft snores a small comfort after last night's scare. That crash outside, the text from some unknown number, Antonio's guilty face-it's all too much.

I'm barely holding it together, and now I'm standing in the living room, waiting for Clara. My mother. The woman who walked out on Dad and me ...