urt, Olivia and Sophia sprang into action. They were

de and putting a protective arm around her. "Can't you see she's in sho

going to die every single day for five years. We dreamed of coming back to you, to the fir

ion. They pointed at me, their faces twisted with scorn, as if I were t

e times I had helped them. I paid for Olivia's master's degree when her family couldn't afford it. I co-signed the loan for Sophia's first apartment. I

faking their own deaths and plotting to ruin me, and berating m

d they had the right to be angry with me. It was all based on Jake's false narrative, his and Amelia's twisted plan. Th

These were the people I had chosen, the people I thought would carry on

y voice was low and d

said, my eyes fixed on Olivia and So

ard the door.

m more than anything else. They stare

her best friends! We're your apprentices! We've been t

ight?" I asked, a dangero

r five years, we've heard about how you've let yourself go, let the firm crumble. We always had to be the on

the word they used whenever they wanted to criticize me, to undermine

istaken their manipulation for concern