Laura “I understand the pain you would be going through at the time, but an end to a relationship should not harm your children. When you say that Mr. Davies was a bad man, what are you referring to? Was he some kind of aggressor? Did you notice any inappropriate behavior at the time? Maybe an illn
Laura The session was long and exhausting because it was about a child who deserved to grow up surrounded by love and attention, and there were financial interests that Jason's lawyers insisted on reviewing, since Annie was simply the daughter and sole heiress of businessman Jason Davies. There wer
Laura I was still sitting in the corner of the room thinking about what had just happened, and in disbelief, my head down as I thought about what I would say to my daughter if she asked why she was spending more time with her daddy than with me. How would I tell my daughter that I had lost custody
Laura “Are you trying to make me stay away from you by any chance?” I asked him in a low voice, looking at the ground. "What? What are you talking about?" He looked at me as he drove. “It's just that you don't look at all attractive to me right now, Gideon,” I told him, chuckling, but there was
Laura So after that, Ava lent me a change of dry, clean clothes to wear, which consisted of long, loose white linen pants with a longer, looser blouse that was still light in color. I felt funny in the outfit, but it was very comfortable. Ava was a person connected to nature, spirituality, and a cl
Laura The next day after this, Jason showed up at the Pritchard house to pick up Annie. Since the guard was with him now for the next two months, I couldn't do anything but go along with it and hope that Jason would do the wrong things so Annie could come back to me. “And when can I see her? Won’
Laura That night, I preferred to sleep in my office once again when office hours were over. I talked to my daughter on the cell phone until she fell asleep, and then I stared at the ceiling of my living room, trying to look for sleep that didn't appear. At that moment, I ended up thinking about the
Laura Jason and I stayed there, watching the little girl's recital while she followed along with her classmates. It was exciting to watch Annie grow into a happier child with each passing day. “She is a sweetheart. Isn't she? So cutie," Jason also commented, smiling delightedly. “Yes, she is be
“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.