dn't want

e she hadn't saved but couldn't forget-and against ev

to come

rapped in the same cold disappointment that ha

e house where she had grown up feeling like a guest in someone else's l

d in the doorway. Her face was p

ame came out lik

the

ther' me.

he threshold, and the

on murmuring on a low news channel. Her father, Kennedy Ramsdale, stood

re

tched a pillow to her chest like a shield. When she saw Cynthia, she

unded on Cynthia, her voi

any idea what

nked. "What

the back of a chair. "The divorce. The video you submitted to the

one he slapped in front of our children. I'm the one walking away from a marriage that has been

ather turned from the window, and his voice

her a homewrecker. A criminal. She almost didn't get out of b

urelia. Her sister's should

is performance before. Every time Aurelia faced consequences, the tears came. E

ia said quietly. "I've finally stopped s

at the accident was your fault. That you were the one driving, not Aurelia. A

. It came out b

estroy my own reputation

w you trapped Kane into marrying you. Everyone knows you've been a thorn in

wo pour every resource into her while I begged for scraps. Who paid for her first dance lessons? You did. Who paid for mine? I worked

gh," her fat

ng now. "She's not fragile, Father. She's lazy. She's never had to fight for anything because you've always cleared the path fo

pped forward,

caught h

t held it there, suspended in the air between

said, her voice low and stead

d. But Cynthia let

and pleading. "Cynthia, please-I didn't ask for any o

e the night I married him. Don't pretend ot

d, something ugly flickered across her f

rned towar

dn't m

e place-because of course he did. Of course her parents ha

Julia trembling with fury, at Kennedy standing like

ed to

hia said.

e press is destroying her. You know that's not f

in my experience, people who speed and hit other peop

ed. "You're bei

difference. You're just not

r her arm. Sh

nth

t tou

ix this. You're going to talk to the

to tell the

e gripping her elbow hard enough to

in Cynth

e could think, before she could stop he

d through the r

one f

it. He stood there, breathing hard, one h

a didn't wait to s

nked the door

r father's stunned silence. Not at Aurelia's tear-streake

nth

sidewalk a

oon, I will make you regret it! I will take everything!

stop. She d

back of a passing taxi and

n the rearview mirro

thia gasped. "Any

ack window, Cynthia saw Kane standing on the side

in the distance until h

ulled out

here no one had hit her, but somehow felt bruis

aude's numb

I need you to com