The rooftop was still. Only the night wind moved, tugging at Clarissa's dress, scattering strands of her hair across her damp cheeks. She clutched herself as though her body might splinter apart under the weight of everything she had seen. Her sobs came ragged, broken, clawing at the silence."You knew, mother!" Her voice cracked into the air, jagged and raw. She looked at her mother with wide, red-rimmed eyes that carried nothing but betrayal. "You knew what he was. You knew--and you let him near me."Her mother stood firm, though her hands trembled against her gown. For once her poise slipped, not enough to crumble but enough for the cracks to show. "Clarissa, you exaggerate. You think Ryan's little performance tonight erases what he has always been? He soiled everything. He humiliated you, humiliated us all. And still--still you cry for him?"Clarissa flinched as though struck. "He saved me!" she shouted, her voice breaking. "If he hadn't--if he hadn't--" The words died, choked by