All Chapters of The Phoenix Contract: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

Life at home wasn’t any better than the torment I faced at college. If anything, it was worse. It was a daily grind of humiliation and neglect that left no room for peace or respite. The grand house on Thornwood Lane, with its ivy-covered walls and sprawling gardens, might have looked picturesque from the outside, but inside, it was a battlefield. And I was the lone soldier, always losing.My stepsisters, Bianca and Lila, were everything I wasn’t: glamorous, confident, and cruel. Bianca, the elder of the two, was a sharp-tongued beauty with an appetite for dominance. She treated me like an unpaid maid, barking orders at me to fetch her coffee, clean her room, or iron her designer clothes. Lila, though younger, was just as vile. She had a talent for cutting remarks, finding ways to humiliate me in front of any guests who visited. “Oh, that’s just Seraphina,” she’d say with a sneer, “our little house help.”Their mother, Eleanor, was the worst of them all. She made no effort to hide her

I walked into school the next day, my head was hung low and my heart was heavy with fear sprinkled with sadness. I told myself that the comments would fade if I just stayed invisible, like I always had. If I didn’t look at anyone, if I didn’t speak, they’d forget eventually, wouldn’t they? It had worked before. Being invisible had always been my armor, thin as it was.But this time, it didn’t work.Everywhere I turned, there were whispers, muffled giggles, and mocking stares. I caught snatches of their cruel words, each one slicing into me like a knife."Madwoman’s daughter.""Guess insanity runs in the family.""Careful, she might snap any second."By lunch, the whispers turned into open jeers. Isla’s posse made sure of that, they kept fanning the flames she had lit. Even Dane, who once smiled at me like I mattered, joined in. He leaned against a locker, smirking as he said loud enough for everyone to hear, “No wonder she’s such a freak. Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the craz