ZOE DEAN'S POV
For a moment, I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
The sound of the ocean faded until all I could hear was the rush of my own pulse — loud, frantic, as if my heart was trying to break free from my chest.
My father?
No. That couldn't be right.
I blinked at Nero, searching his face for something — a crack in his expression, a smirk, anything that would tell me I'd heard wrong. But he just stood there, silent, eyes dark with something I couldn't name. Pain. Regret. Truth.
"You're lying," I whispered, shaking my head so hard my hair brushed against my cheeks. "That's not true."
He didn't say a word.
"Say something," I demanded, my voice trembling, panic clawing at the edge of my throat. "What do you mean my father killed your mother?"
Nero's jaw tightened. He shut his eyes for a moment, as if steadying himself, before forcing the words out. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Zoe. But that's… the truth."
The world tilted.
