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response.
    “What an insult to your father and the rest of the men downstairs, and to the Führer!” Her mother’s face contorted as if the very thought pained her. “What happens beyond our walls is no concern of yours, do you understand me? Your job is to play. That is what you will do for Austria. Play. You will honor the Führer and your family. You will not make fools of us tonight.”
    “I hadn’t thought to make a fool of anyone.”
    Her mother eyed her, the intensity of the glare working to shred her resolve.
    “Where is this coming from, Adele?”
    “Nowhere, I—”
    Her mother cut in with force masked as elegance in her tone. “You have been gifted a rare talent, and I’ll not have you waste it because you’ve decided to become interested in philosophy all of a sudden.”
    “But we are Christians, are we not?”
    Marina huffed. “You see me pray in church every week. I light a candle for all of Austria. What else has God to do with what happens out there, except to protect the fighting sons of our country? I pray for their courage, just like everyone else.”
    Adele didn’t understand why her mother was so upset. She’d never seen Marina Von Bron swat at a fly, let alone grab her by the arms until there were bruises pinched into her second layer of skin. And now she scoffed at her mention of God? He had everything to do with it, hadn’t He? Adele felt they had every right toquestion what they were doing after the murderous display of evil she’d witnessed the night before.
    “Mama.” Adele wished she could tell her the truth, that if they followed Christ, they couldn’t hope to follow the Nazis in the same breath. She knew what was happening out on the streets of Vienna, and all over Europe, for that matter. They couldn’t look away any longer. “How can I play in the midst of such suffering? How can I turn a blind eye to what is happening? I didn’t know what it was until now. But what we’re doing to the Jewish people, it’s”—she almost couldn’t say the words out loud and instead whispered them—“it’s evil , Mama.”
    The smack hit her across the cheek without warning. Her mother had pulled back and let her hand burn the left side of her face with as much force as she possessed.
    Adele was stunned.
    She brought a gloved hand up to the side of her face and held it there, unable to believe it had happened except for the painful throbbing that had already begun searing her cheek.
    “Are you a coward or are you Austrian?”
    With her cheek on fire and thoughts racing, she whispered, “I am Austrian.”
    Marina brought her face in closer until their noses were but an inch apart. “Then I suggest you act like it.”
    Adele stood with her hand on her face, watching as her mother turned to tidy the makeup that had been strewn about the bedroom vanity. She dropped tubes of lipstick and blush brushes into the top drawer, then collected hairpins and deposited them in a mother-of-pearl box on the bureau.
    “I expect you to be downstairs and ready to go in five minutes.”
    She swiped her fur wrapper up from the vanity chair and without so much as a second glance left Adele in the coldness of her room.

CHAPTER FIVE

    Sausalito, California
    S era stepped out of her rental car and looked up—way up, at the towering Bay Area estate home before her.
    She turned in a circle as she glanced around at the pristine grounds. An expanse of lavish architecture stood tall over the weaving cobblestone walkway that led to the blue coast below. Several rocking chairs along the length of the back porch had been lulled into a gentle ebb and flow by a sea breeze that perfumed the air with a fresh saltiness. It made her want to drop into one of the chairs and rock the day away.
    This hideaway was like nothing she’d ever seen. She was from Manhattan, an island with some of the most impressive real estate around—but not like this. Not like the pile of California bricks in front of her. It looked exactly