“Oh!” The flower shop cashier pulled back in surprise. “I’m sorry.” He looked truly sympathetic when he asked, “Did you guys not make up this time?”“Make up?” I shook my head, frowning at him. “This time? What the fuck are you talking about? There was no making up, because we’ve never been together.” I pointed insistently toward the roses. “These aren’t apology flowers. They’re a bundle full of I-want-you guilt trip from a guy who won’t take no for an answer.”“Ooh,” a voice cooed from next to me. “That’s bad.”And another echoed, “Real bad.”I whirled to find that the two customers who’d been paying for their purchases were openly listening in on my complaint.Then I jolted when I realized I actually knew one of them, and she lived in the same building as me. “Kaitlynn! Hey. What’re you doing here?”And why didn’t you answer your damn door on Halloween night to help a desperate girl out, huh? I didn’t add.She smiled in her usual cheerful, sweet way. “I’m longingly gazing at a

He was back. One day after I called the idiot out for being a liar and a thief, then demanded he leave me alone for the rest of eternity with every ounce of energy I had in me, and here Diego was again, back at Trudy’s.This was becoming creepier by the minute, especially when he appeared at the opening of the alley when I stepped out the back door of Trudy’s and into the alley with a bag full of garbage, almost as if he’d been watching and waiting for a moment to corner me somewhere alone.He didn’t have a bouquet of bloodred roses this time, however, just a dinky, half-wilted weed infested mess of daffodils that he appeared to have pulled from someone’s flower bed on the way here.I wasn’t sure if the daffodils were because of my visit to Rosewood the day before, where they must’ve refused to sell him anymore bouquets, or because he knew he no longer had to pretend to be rich for me. In either case, I wasn’t amused.Tossing the trash into the dumpster, I let the heavy, metal lid

She surprised me.Again.For some inexplicable reason, Gabriella always seemed to jolt and throw me off my game. How the hell did she do that?I studied the spitfire before me, perplexed. My head was still spinning over the fact that I’d just told her I was going to pursue her—even though I had repeatedly tried to convince myself I was done with women and relationships entirely.And she didn’t even know my name yet?That didn’t seem like it should be possible.“Hayden Carmichael,” I said, holding out a hand because I wanted to feel her flesh against mine as well as appear more professional and in control of my faculties than I actually was.“Hades Carmichael?” she murmured, making a face and nodding before saying, “Hmm. Makes sense.”“Hayden,” I corrected. “Not Hades. Which reminds me, I never got your surname.”“Salazar,” she returned, furrowing her brow as she shook with me. “Didn’t Kaitlynn mention that?”“Kaitlynn and I don’t speak, so no.”“But—”“And I’d appreciate it

“You’re early,” Lana accused harshly as she opened the door to us with an unwelcome frown.So I smiled and shot back, “That’s because we just couldn’t wait for the pleasure of your company.”While my mother scowled over my obvious sarcasm, I grasped Gabby’s hand in a show of solidarity with her, ignoring the twitch of surprise in her fingers over the contact, and smiled even more tightly to our host as I stepped into her apartment.She wore all white and nearly blended into the room around her. If it weren’t for the aura of evil emanating off her, I might’ve missed her completely.Next to me, Gabby shifted uneasily closer, saying nothing.I gripped her fingers more firmly, hoping to reassure her.“Well, dinner isn’t ready yet,” Lana announced irritably. “We’re going to have to wait.”I shrugged. “That’s fine. It’ll give us plenty of opportunity for you to tell us why we were blackmailed into coming tonight.”Choking out a sound of surprise, Gabby glanced up at me as if I’d lost

The next morning, I found myself tiptoeing into my father’s room before anyone in the apartment was awake. I slipped the key to our family safe from the ceramic candy house with the hinged lid on his bureau and kneeled next to his bed. After easing out the small fireproof box he kept under there, I snuck both items out and retreated down the hall to the front room. There, I sat on the couch and perched the mini safe on my lap. After unlocking it, I popped the lid open.There was no money or monetary valuables inside, except some Venezuelan coins Papá had saved as keepsakes and Mama’s wedding ring. Most of the contents were paperwork. I found my and Miguel’s birth certificates, along with our social security cards near the top. After a bit of digging, I found Mama and Papá’s marriage license and Mama’s birth certificate. And then there, Papá’s certificate of naturalization, proving he was an American citizen, lay folded under that. It had his registration number and signature on it and