AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or so I’d convinced myself—and have continued to convince myself since.
Now Coraline’s stirring up emotions I’ve desperately tried to force a lid on, and my dress is getting too tight. My thoughts are winking in and out as I try to catch a breath.
“Kate?” she prods quietly.
My gaze flies around the room to all these happy, smiling faces. Mrs. Aston and my mother stand by the dessert table, laughing about something I’m certain I wouldn’t find funny.
Can I leave this? Can I truly walk out of here, head held high, knowing I’ll be shunned from this community for life?
The noise in the room slows to a dull murmur.
As if watching in slow motion, every movement becoming labored, but for whatever reason, I fixate on Twyla’s hand as she completes the final curve of the letterD.
D_AMON_
The word glares at me through tunnel vision before she adds a secondDto follow. “Diamond!” someone shouts.
Coraline mumbles, but my hands are trembling too hard to focus on what’s she said.
I feel it then, the force of something quiet, yet powerful tickling the back of my neck and raising goose bumps along every inch of my skin.
Coraline’s brows pinch when she reaches for my shaking hand.
My mother scurries across the room to where I’m seated. “Katelynn, are you alright?”
“No,” I say, half-dazed.
I haven’t been alright since leaving Topica Bay. Not since that very first night Brandi found me alone at the tiki bar, actually.
Thinking of my friend reminds me just how much I’ve missed her.
“I need some air,” I say, standing quickly and spinning for the enormous back patio of Henry’s mansion. My phone lies innocently on the bar counter in the kitchen, and as soon as I pick it up, I begin furiously scrolling through my contacts.
Coraline is hot on my heels as we exit the house through the French doors that lead outside.
Each step I take away from my home is another step toward the home I want. One I never imagined before Damon but that I’m not giving up without a fight.
“Talk to me, babe,” she says with a note of caution.
I cram a hand into my perfectly curled hair and turn toward the valley that lies just beyond the pasture. “I need to call Brandi.”
“Who’s Brandi?”
The doors burst open as my mother, red faced and fuming, comes barreling after me and Cor.
“Katelynn Leanne! What is the meaning of this?”
I press the call button with a sheen of sweat breaking out all over.
For three weeks, I’ve been an imposter in this house, forcing myself to believe a lie that I thought would protect me, when instead, I’ve been shown the truth of the lie I was living.
A sick rush of dread breaks like a wave through my body. What if he’s already gone?
“Please pick up,” I mutter. “Please, Brandi.”
“Katelynn,” my mother says again, but I hold a finger up when I hear a familiar voice.
“This better be good,” Brandi says, lacking a bite despite her words.
