Ava As expected, Terry didn't sleep at home the night before. He went out drinking because he was angry with me and left me alone at home, worried. He deserved me to be very angry with him, but at that moment I could only be worried. I barely slept at all the whole night waiting for him to arrive;
Laura That morning, I woke up to my daughter's voice calling me. We had already returned to New York, and Jason couldn't sleep at my house the night before because he had a lot of things to resolve in Manhattan. Since he had stayed in Chicago for almost a month, he had to go back and resolve his pe
Laura “Are you going to do an artificial insemination procedure?” I asked, looking at my friend. She and I were shopping at a clothing store. Jason had invited me to a romantic dinner tonight, so I wanted to surprise him with a new dress. "Yes, we are going. Terry is looking for a good clinic for
Laura“Are you going to tell me why your thoughts are so far away, or are you still going to continue pretending that it’s not important?” Jason asked, hugging me from behind and sniffing my neck. After dinner, he took me to his flat to enjoy the rest of the night. It was already early in the morni
“I don't deny that, but he always respected me and was on my side even though I said no. He always knew how to wait for my time and respected my decisions,” I explained. Jason grunted as if he didn't like that. “The guy does this and already becomes a hero?” He ridiculed him. I lifted my head and
Laura We had a long discussion that night because we had a lot to put on the table, so sometimes the discussion became heated and other times it became calm. Having me now be an argument woman might have scared Jason, but I wanted to make it clear to him what my point of view was on several issues
“Annie, come to mommy, please,” I asked my daughter, calling her with my open arms. My heart was beating wildly with a tremendous fear of what that woman could do to my daughter. “She’s so pretty, mommy. She looks like Barbie,” said my daughter, enchanted by Kendall's stunning beauty, making her l
Ava “Was Kendall at your house?” I asked Laura, who was on the other end of the phone, in astonishment. I couldn't believe that that woman dared to bother Laura. “I was really scared when I saw you here, friend. And the worst of all is that she was with my daughter! Good heavens, what if she want
“Why do you keep hanging out with them, Abby?” he asked, and now there was a note of concern that annoyed me even more. “You know Madison’s not good for you. She uses you, and you let her.” “It’s none of your business,” I shot back, my voice sharp. “I do what I want, Caleb. Bye.” I hung up before h
Abby POV It was a lazy Sunday, and I was at the mall’s food court, waiting at the counter to pick up snacks for myself and the “new friends” I’d managed to latch onto. The smell of grease and cheap coffee filled the air, and the hum of conversations mixed with the muffled pop music from the speaker
Caleb, Abby, Madison, Nadia—they all spun through my head like a broken carousel. I wanted to tell my parents everything, collapse and ask for help, but the thought of seeing disappointment in their eyes—or worse, them trying to intervene at Oxwell to “save” me—made me swallow the words. I had to fi
Annie POV It was the weekend, and I was at home, trying to take deep breaths and pretend everything was okay. The Oxwell campus was a few hours away, giving me temporary relief from the chaos my life had become. Here, with my parents and the twins, I could at least try to be the old Annie—the exc
Max POV Walking beside someone who’d once meant so much to me felt strange. I couldn’t stop thinking that our breakup had been a waste, couldn’t stop remembering how happy I’d been with this guy, only to ruin it all because of my ego, because of a toxic fixation I had on Albert. Conrad Adams walke
Max POV was stunned when Albert told me that, my mouth even went dry because I wasn’t expecting to hear it. Conrad Adams was back. He was my boyfriend in my early twenties. I met him through Albert, who was close friends with him during the dark days of his family’s company. Conrad was a good guy
Max POV I was driving through the city with the radio on low, just a background murmur to keep the silence from swallowing me whole, when my phone buzzed on the dashboard. Zoey. Of course it was her. The girl had already wormed her way into my house like a high-heeled parasite, and now, apparently,
Annie POV After the moment at the mall, I returned to the dorm with a tight chest, carrying the bags with the blue dress Summer had insisted I buy. The plan was to distract myself, but Madison’s words—“racist,” “canceled piece of trash”—spun in my head like a broken record, mingling with Nadia’s re
When I met her last week at a council meeting, I could tell she’d be a challenge—confident, charismatic, the type who knew how to play the game. “Ugh, Madison Goodwin is here too. What a rotten day,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. Of course Abby would get close to Madison—she was her adopted cousin.