Chapter 7
The doorknob slowly twisted back into place.
I opened the door. Julian stood right outside.
Jasper leaned against the stairwell, squinting at him.
“Bro.”
“You’re acting really suspicious.”
Julian glanced at him, then turned to me calmly.
“Don’t leave your things lying around.”
palm of my hand softened and was stuffed with a very small knitted rabbit doll.
It was the matching couple’s charm I’d made on Tik Tok years ago, cute and totally out of place
next to Julian’s polished image.
I’d known he’d never carry it. He’d smiled and taken it, just as I’d expected–and never wore it.
I’d put mine away, disappointed, and only found it in my bag that day.
But I hadn’t left it out. I’d thrown it in the trash before going upstairs.
I looked up. Julian was already walking away.
Jasper came over. “Was he really just returning something?”
“Why in the middle of the night? I thought you two actually knew each other.”
I squeezed the charm and shook my head. “We don’t.”
A relationship he’d never even admitted to wasn’t worth mentioning.
I tossed the bunny into the trash can inside my room.
A soft thud. Julian’s steps seemed to falter down the hall.
The next day, more people flooded the Hale house some kind of family event.
Jasper held my hand and introduced me to everyone, making Mrs. Hale scowl repeatedly.
“You’re not gonna get kicked out, are you?” I asked.
Jasper smirked, smoking a cigarette. “My mom might not, but my brother definitely would.”
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“He’s hated me since yesterday.”
I glanced over at Julian. His face was blank.
I figured he wasn’t mad at his brother.
As soon as we had a free minute, Mrs. Hale pulled Jasper away to talk.
The second he was gone, someone dragged me into a room.
A hand clamped around my wrist, pressing me against the door.
Warm breath brushed my ear.
“Lina, don’t tell me you’re actually with him?”
I couldn’t pull free. Trapped in the small space, I looked up into Julian’s eyes.
Julian laughed before I could speak. “You don’t think being with him will fix anything, do you?”
“Lina. Break up with him.”
His voice was gentle, but this wasn’t a request.
Julian wasn’t the type to reason patiently.
He preferred pulling strings behind the scenes to force people to obey.
For three months, I’d hit nothing but dead ends. Evicted. Fired. Framed at work and stuck with
debt.
On my worst nights, I finally understood what Julian’s cruel words meant.
Men like him, born to power, got whatever they wanted by any means necessary.
But I hated being cornered, having no choice.
It took me back to childhood–passed between my parents like a burden, yelled at for being in the
way.
I tried so hard to be good, to be careful, and still got called a useless kid.
No one ever asked if I wanted that life.
No one ever gave me a choice.
I stopped struggling and stared straight at him, smiling bitterly.
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“Three years. You were a great actor.”
“Julian Hale, if I’d known what you were really like, I never would’ve let you near me.”
“Now that I know, you think I’d ever come back? You make me sick.”
The word “sick” drained the color from Julian’s face.
He started to speak, but Jasper’s voice called my name from the hallway.
Julian stared at me for a few seconds, then let go.
He couldn’t risk the family finding out about us.
Before he released me, he said quietly, “I’m not giving you a choice.”
“Break up with him, and I’ll get you out of this house.”
I ignored him and opened the door.
Jasper took my hand and paraded me around again, repeating his lines like a script, getting polite compliments every time.
But when he finished introducing me this time, no one spoke.
I looked up confused–and saw Julian’s friends staring at me like they’d seen a ghost.
And Chloe Voss, standing right in front of me.
