words hung in

yeloid l

M

e. Poor p

ath hi

tried to ignore for months,

twenty

h dreams as sweet

rs with L

L

cake designs just last nig

all of it felt lik

something about treatment

all a

ded,

me to the apartment

anctuary, or

a rising star at

t be home

the apartment

thing, to distract me f

si

old tablet h

playlists

the device, m

red on

ed folder ca

mu

arrington

cold dread, m

e certi

sabelle "Bella" H

hree ye

e. Y

art s

, ph

Liam, beaming, h

Be

, with an old-money aura

ked...

ey

, a distinctive

like

cture, the curv

t a distorted, wealth

from my numb finger

. A secr

the bigger

I thought I was b

usly craft

a small town I' d fled for

Dad we

r lived acros

ren't

been my e

nchor in this o

had no one

l safe

f it, in subtle w

don't understand

need anyo

ishly, had

e tablet, my m

a, smiling, their arms lin

d to sm

ir wedding album and, with

eted the c

he small act of defiance

but of pure, un

patheti

proof was

arriage wa

aced, sharp a

years

kid, always feelin

rumors h

ked my appli

ing with a profe

devastated

harismatic classmat

my hero,

as jealousy from those wh

cemented my trus

I s

ti

attended a riva

n, off-again," a wealthy,

tarted tho

To make Liam

ght was

d to

from him, or at

abbed my key

all Stree

y guard kne

er, go ri

r. Not Mr

wasn't l

s glass-walled off

his colleague

e was cold,

he warm tones

as on s

tting impatient. How much lo

od ran

va pr

, a dry, hum

Bella' s barren, and she' s fixa

am and

le pregnancy, I' ll secure parental rights. Bella

mach c

Twin. In

What if Ava finds out about Bella

And I' ve made sure she' s cut off most of her old friends. As for the kid, wi

r av

g there, chil

ees b

cool corridor wall, s

va pr

small-to

ned this.

ye

ed and

he opulent lobby, out into t

ts blurred th

es bu

far sharper than any phys

ur apartment, his apartm

shared trinket, felt like

cake sketche

a f

d them into tiny, u

k, a wildfire co

ulling out clothes he' d bo

l felt

n I rem

leuk

him about the

ing to,

an on him, seek c

made me wa

like a death sentence hours ag

, pervers

wouldn't have to e

ht, a flicker of

roc

ist had mentione

AR T-cell therapy

said. "For cases like yo

seemed too drast

was a

nly

rrounded by the wrecka

was a naive s

t I worsh

right

anym

is was a de

as a different

rust, of the future I'

chure, tucked a

r research inst

ope in an oce

about surviving

out survi

about