I bit my lip lightly, still looking at him suspiciously. I'm sure he was up to something... Was he really going to give me the money, or was he just making fun of me? So I sighed and picked up the bag. “Okay, but if you don't give me that money, I swear I'll kick your balls,” I threatened him and w
LauraJason was impossible; no matter how much you tried to understand him, he managed to frustrate your expectations in two ways. He had just left with Annie, leaving me embarrassed in front of Terrence. I got up with a sigh and went to take my hands to the nearby toilet, where I also put the rest
It had been so long ago that it was as if I was no longer the one who had lived through that episode, although the memories were still intact within me. So many things had happened in that middle ground, and I had grown so much. Now I realized the wrong and right things I had done in my life, and al
LauraIt was a dark street at the bottom of Bad Stuy; there was little movement of people coming and going—just ordinary people going about their ordinary lives without posing serious danger. I was still inside the car, parked right outside a diner that looked like one of the hundreds it had scatter
LauraLewis' lair really looked like a criminal place that even involved the mafia. I dare say that illegal drugs were being packaged and a lot of cash was being counted and stored in suitcases, which were clearly going to be used for some type of clandestine exchange. The grim-faced guys who were w
LauraAt that moment, when one of the walls exploded, everyone in that room was violently knocked off their feet. I was static for a moment. Had I died? I came to think about it. Or had I lost a member of my body? What had happened? Was it the police who had blown up the wall? They had no other way
Laura “Now it’s your turn, woman. Give me your hand,” Jason said, extending his hand towards me to take me out of the dangerous bunker where a shootout was taking place against the police and the gangsters who had threatened to kill my sister and her friend. He had a line of tension between his e
TerenceI watched Laura leave the hospital along with Jason and his daughter. The woman's shoulders were tense because of so much concern she had about her sister, but it was understandable; today was not a good day for her because of everything she was going through. The day was definitely not goin
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.
Annie POV I was still trying to process everything that had happened at the square. Caleb’s words—“I hope you suffer”—mixed with Nadia’s ultimatum about my revoked candidacy had left me in pieces. My dream of leading the student council, something I saw as the first step toward following in my mom’
Annie POV I was still sitting on the bench in the square, the echo of Caleb’s words reverberating in my head like thunder that wouldn’t fade. "I hope you suffer." He had shoved the bouquet of pink flowers against my chest and stormed off, leaving me with a mix of shock, anger, and something that