Kingdom of Lies

SERAFINA

Dario gets off the stool slowly, like a man weighing violence in his bones. Then he raises a finger at me.

Not to hit me. But the gesture cuts like a warning, like a slap in its own right.

“I was right,” he says coldly. “Something did happen with you and a neighbor.... You kissed him.”

His voice is calm in that dangerous way that always comes before the storm.

“Which neighbor was it? I wa