r bedroom door

was still a frantic drum against her ribs. It wasn't fear. It was the sharp, metallic t

n't do

ther-bound notebook. Inside, written in neat, precise English, were pages

the page titled

and 'easily angered,' she dr

d darkened, the violent tremor in his fist-that wasn't an act. But his res

In the privacy of his own room, with no witnesses, even

had to do it in public. She had to put him on a stage whe

devotion to Ashleigh was his defining trait, his

be at school. And the

thing inescapable, something that would pul

alendar pinned to her corkboa

erm

utiful. She would humiliate him. In front of everyone. I

wn social annihilation. But for a chance at true death, a

t that door was closed. She had tested every lock in her previous life. Only another's hand-driven by rage, u

lowed by the housekeeper's voice

into the deepest part of her desk d

re, a bandage wrapped clumsily around his knuckles. He w

avy, broken only by the clink o

eat directly across from him

e ice. He said nothing, but the hatred wa

k. She cut a piece of her filet mign

ptively sweet. "Next time, you should try using

gainst his plate, the s

of his chair scraping violen

ked at them, her eyes wide

nt, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Then, without a

a slow, satisfied smi

was a bomb, and she just needed to

o her meal, the steak

ng ready for bed, her phone buzzed

om him. You'l

from. Ashleigh Meadows. The queen

eenshot, saving it for later. It was

d a simp

e to see

her bed. Her eyes gleamed in the dim ligh