“Daddy, I need to go to sleep now,” said the girl to her father in a low voice as if even that was a secret between them. I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest. The girl handed the cell phone to me. “Daddy said he wants to talk to you, Mommy,” she said. I sighed, taking out my cell phone
LauraThat night I slept poorly, with Jason's suspicious words ringing in my head, and even though I had my daughter sleeping peacefully in my arms, I couldn't feel at ease. What if Jason's suspicions were right? I mean, Graham might not be in cahoots with Kendall, but he could very well want to use
Laura“Are you seriously going to do this, Laura? Are you going to kick me out of your house like I’m a piece of shit?” Graham asked, looking insulted. It was morning already; my daughter was having her private lesson in the next room and Gideon, Graham, and I were in my home office, and I had just
SuzyWhen I arrived at the flat where my friend lived, I found the door wide open and the hinges hanging out of the place where they were supposed to be fixed. It was as if someone had broken down the door. Worried, I entered her house and saw the entire space torn apart, her sofa torn up, the spong
SuzyI wasn't at peace; I needed to do anything to help my friend get out of that mess. So I left her sleeping in her flat, got into my car, and started it. It was late at night, but I couldn't postpone the matter. I knew the loan sharks that Clary owed, because, at some point in my life, I ended u
He snorted now, lighting his cigar. "Good times, you say. The only thing I remember is you leaving me, bitch,” he retorted, apparently still holding a grudge over what happened between us in the past. “You can't blame me for deciding not to go along with this dirty scheme you're up to your neck in,
SuzyMy legs were wobbly when I left that diner and staggered to the car. Once inside, I quickly grabbed a paper bag and threw in all the dinner that I had eaten that night. I rested the back of my head on the seat and breathed through my mouth, trying to regain my stability and control my emotions.
“Gammy…” I stammered, hugged him, and ended up crying. I didn't know if it was from missing him or from all the pressure I had felt in the last few hours. Likewise, I just felt like I needed to collapse into the arms of someone who cared for me and cry like a hurt child. Gammy took me to a snack ba
“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.