Laura I took her hand and gently moved closer to the cribs. “It’s okay, Vivian, you don’t need to be afraid.” I encouraged. She smiled at me and looked at the babies with a sweet smile on her face, but then her smile broke, and an expression of surprise and shock came over her. “Ernest…?” She loo
Laura That afternoon, I left my children with their father and went to the prison where Suzy was being held. I had wanted to pay her a visit for a while. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon, the leaves on the trees were turning brown, preparing for the depressing time of winter. To tell the truth,
Laura Suzy was dressed in orange when she accepted my visit to the prison. She looked changed, with some bruises on her face, as if she had gotten into fights, something I didn't doubt because of the way she was aggressive and difficult to deal with. It was quite normal that she would have gotten i
Laura “That’s your problem, Laura. You think I'm not a better person, but I'm fine where I am, okay? I'm very happy with the life I lead and the decisions I make,” she said, wanting to be flippant. Was she happy with the decisions she made that led to her going to jail? “So if that’s the case, ca
Three years later Laura I was looking at myself in the mirror as I finished doing the last finishes on my makeup, some personal touches of mine that we always ended up doing even after the professional makeup artist had done her work on us. Today was a very special day, it was the day that Jason
Jason The screw on the champagne bottle made a plop, and then the champagne opened, leaving Terence's hand completely covered in foam. “Hurray! That's it, man,” he cheered as he began to pour the drinks into our glasses. “Splendid,” I commented with a giggle. "Wonderful! Just don't drink a lo
Jason Do you believe that this time things will work out between you two?” Terence asked. “Because, to be honest, my biggest fear is that you’ll come into your house again and suddenly ask for a divorce and leave everyone with their mouths open and their heads blown.” He made comical gestures as h
Suzy “Hey, you have a visitor today,” the prison guard said when she arrived at my cell. I was in the corner of the bunk, playing with my hair, trying to ignore the annoying voices of my cellmates, those annoying bitches. I hated them, she was disgusting and couldn't leave me alone. Not only that,
“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.