Anne It all started when I was 11 years old and Peter Morton wanted to kill his stepdad. “Does your Dad have a gun?” He asked when he and I were hiding in the ceiling of the ballroom where Uncle Jake's and his mom's wedding was taking place. "What?" For a moment, I thought I hadn't heard correctl
Anne That night, Peter and I had a lot of fun together. We played subtle pranks on Uncle Jake and his fiancée, things that didn't really hurt, but that took away his peace in some way, for example, like pouring olive oil in his wine, filling with salt his slice of wedding cake, putting a fart cushi
Laura “Which dish do you prefer for our supper tonight? Fettuccine with mushrooms or filet mignon with duchesses potatoes?” Jason asked me on the other end of the line. He seemed excited to prepare dinner for me, which pleased me. “Um, I love a buttered filet mignon, but I also can't resist fettuc
Laura “Lindsay! It's been a long time,” I said excitedly, going over to hug her as she entered my office room. “Oh, Laura, I missed you so much,” she said with a smile for me as she returned my hug. I really didn't have any issues with her because I always liked her. She has always been an excelle
Laura I couldn't believe that Lindsay Roberts, that is, Lindsay Bathory, was right here in front of me, begging to come back to work at Hextec with me. I mean, she was the one who had left all that behind to get married and went to live in London and started a new life there with her husband; years
Laura “Are you telling me Lindsay and Gideon are divorced?” Ava was surprised when she asked that. She and I were in the living room of a massage parlor, wearing lilac terrycloth robes and drinking sparkling wine. As agreed, after I got off work, Ava and I went to the spa. So she and I were spellin
Laura “So, Lau. Did you manage to speak to your daughter?” Ava asked when I came back to them after leaving for a while to go call Annie on the balcony of the luxury massage parlor we were at. “Oh, yes. Yes, I did,” I replied with a relieved sigh as I sat back down. “She's just busy with an algebr
Anne I had just spoken to my mom on the phone, and she had asked me if I was really okay. I had clearly responded to her that I was fine, but at that point, I didn't know I was actually fine. Furthermore, I was still in my car, parked in front of the luxurious building that housed Amber Morton, Pe
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