Chapter 75: Mother Knows Best Nina I made my way back to my dorm that night after Enzo drove me home and stashed the strange photograph in my bedside table. Lori and Jessica were already fast asleep, but I was kept awake for a long time as I puzzled over the photograph and the events of the past d
Nina I returned to my room, still aggravated that my mother had suddenly shown up unannounced. After months of hardly speaking to me, she comes all this way just over a scraped knee? I felt as though there was something else she wasn’t telling me, but I had too much on my mind to care at the moment
Enzo The very next afternoon following dropping Nina off at her dorm after the unceremonious dinner at my father’s house, my phone rang; it was my father. Rolling my eyes, I picked it up. “I just left,” I growled, still angry with him for everything he had said at dinner. “What do you want?” “Hel
I raised my eyebrows and glanced over at Ronan again, who still sat silently across from me with his eyes fixed on mine. “A hockey tournament to decide which faction gets to run the town?” I asked. Marcus grinned again. “It’s much more fun to decide things this way, don’t you think?” he said. “Not
Nina I tried calling my mother after I discovered that the baby picture was missing, but unsurprisingly, she didn’t answer. Cursing to myself, I hung up the phone and decided that it was too late now to worry about it; the damage had already been done, it was late at night, and I had work in the mo
“I haven’t looked in here in ages,” she said with a cough, waving away a cloud of dust that was floating in front of her face from abruptly opening the box. I smiled and leaned forward on the table, sitting on my knees in the chair. I felt like a child again, asking my mother to show me an old scrap
Nina Enzo’s eyes were full of a mixture of anger, sadness, and what also oddly seemed like moderate excitement as he looked down at me. His hair and leather jacket were soaked from the rain, but he didn’t seem to care. “Can we talk?” he said. “Uh, sure,” I replied warily, glancing over his should
Nina The next week went by in a blur. I was so busy with midterms and catching up on classwork that I hardly even noticed that the leaves had almost entirely disappeared from the trees, and the days had already gotten shorter. By the time midterms were over, it was cold enough outside to have to we
Nina The warm summer breeze brushed across my skin as I stood on the patio, clutching my robe tightly around my body. Laughter and splashes echoed up from the pool below, where our friends were already gathered for our big end-of-summer party. I should have been down there too, soaking up the ve
“What... what do you mean?” He braced his hands on the doorframe, leaning in closer with a heavy sigh. “I mean, by the time I caught up to them this morning, I only saw them long enough to get that photo before they were boarding a speedboat and taking off. Hell, I’m still not even totally sure wh
Nina My breath caught in my throat as I pulled open the front door expecting to see excited party guests, only to be immediately met with the sight of Luke’s grim expression. His brow was furrowed in a deep frown, his lips pressed into a tight line—clear signs that something was very wrong. “Luk
Nina I huffed out a breath as I hoisted the oversized cardboard box higher in my arms, carefully navigating my way through the living room. Strings of fairy lights poked out haphazardly from the top, and I could feel the weight of glass jars and other assorted decor inside shifting precariously wi
Then, at the last possible second, the scout seemed to find an extra burst of speed. He surged forward, hurtling between two towering oak trees and vanishing into the cover of the forest beyond. “Dammit!” I slammed my palms against the rough bark of the nearest trunk, powerless to do anything but
Enzo The crunch of leaves and snap of twigs echoed through the trees as Matt and I tore after the Schreiber scout. Our breaths came in ragged gasps, the hot summer air burning our lungs. Overhead, a little red bird chirped and flitted through the green canopy of trees; Daphne. But even she wasn’
Shaking my head, I turned without another word and stormed out of the fitting room. I took the two strides across the hall to Jessica’s fitting room and knocked on the door, folding my arms across my chest. “Jess? You in there?” There was a muffled thump in the fitting room, followed by the soun
Nina “How’s it looking in there?” I called out, rapping lightly on the wooden door of Jessica’s fitting room. “Um… decent, I guess?” her muffled voice floated back a moment later, although I could sense the uncertainty in her tone. “Decent? That’s it? Come on, Jess, this is your wedding gown w
Had I really known him at all, I wondered? Or had I merely been too self-absorbed and naive to see past the facade of unshakable command he projected? After a long silence, I found my voice. “Why didn’t he ever tell me that?” “He didn’t want you to see his weakness, I suppose,” Angelica replied