Chapter 45

Selene recoiled as if slapped. Her voice came out as a high-pitched whine. ‘Please, Dashiell! Don’t do this. I messed up, I know, but I’ll change, I promise!’ She was crying again. She was ready to fall to her knees, to beg, anything to make him take back those words. ‘Please,’ she choked, ‘don’t take the ring away. You know how much I love you, and I know you love me too. Just give me a chance! One chance!’ Dashiell’s eyes, once a warm ocean, were now glacial fjords. ‘You know how I feel about lies. Remember Benjamin DeSanto?’ Selene hung her head. When Dashiell first met her during the summer holiday years ago, he’d also made another friend. Benjamin DeSanto was eleven, a neighbour of Selene’s. The boy had a face peppered with freckles and a nose for trouble. The trio hit it off instantly and spent days exploring the beach. One afternoon, Ben and Selene went out to score some ice cream. When Ben returned solo, alarm bells rang in Dashiell’s head. He asked Ben, who said Selene came ba