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CELINE REINHART
Newest Castoff
Everything will befine if I get through the next day. I promise myself if I get through the next hour, day, week, the nightmare will be over. But it’s never really over. I only ever enjoy a short reprieve until the next nightmare begins.
I wanted so badly to escape. A gardener named Mike told us about a man named Papa Bear, who had a place up north where people could hide and get help. Papa Bear ran a motorcycle club. I wasn’t really sure what that meant, but Mike explained how they were scary men on motorcycles.
“They don’t care about the law,” Mike told Giselle and me. “They don’t care about rich people like your father. If you can get there, you’ll be safe.”
We planned for months to escape during a wild party at another estate. Yet, when the time came, I couldn’t fit through the tiny window in the closet overlooking our only unsupervised exit. Even after starving myself for weeks ahead of time, my breasts were too big. Giselle was forced to go without me with the goal of sending help.
Poor Mike sacrificed himself to free Giselle. I don’t know how the Black Gold Four learned who betrayed them. I suspect Moira was snooping. She was always their favorite, floating around, feeling above the rest of us. They even made her the angel because she was the “closest to God.”
After Mike was executed, I grew to believe Giselle also died. Months passed without any word from her. No one came to save us.
Worse than our fate, I realized I’d sent my little sister to her death. I was the one who first spoke to Mike about fleeing. I agreed to the plan while Giselle mostly followed me. She never would have gone if she knew others would suffer. I was the rebellious one while my sister was the hopeful one.
I never knew for sure she was dead. At first, I got the sense she might be alive because my father made me record a message pretending to be Giselle. Why do that if she wasn’t alive? He claimed it was meant to bring her back to us. But Giselle never returned.
Assuming she was gone forever, I sank into despair. After Theo claimed he had a plan for escape, I felt worse. If I hadn’t agreed to the original plan, Giselle and Mike would be alive. My impatience led to losing the only person I ever loved.
Theo never explained how we would escape. He just told the Dolls—except for Moira and Erica—today was the day.
I assumed the opportunity arose because of the deaths of two of the Black Gold Four. We were never told how they died, yet my father became paranoid afterward. I figured the four powerful men had angered the wrong person. They became arrogant, bringing friends to parties, showing off their Dolls. They also “rented” girls from poor families. Did one of those deals go wrong?
I didn’t know the answers. A part of me wasn’t interested in the details. I’d lost my heart when I sent Giselle away and she never returned.
Yet, somehow, I’ve learned she’s not only alive but happy.
And she doesn’t remember me at all.
“Maybe I shouldn’t go with the rest of you,” I tell the tall, blonde woman who saved us. “Giselle is doing well. There’s no reason for me to disrupt her life.”
The woman’s name is Luca. The dark-haired man is her husband. They are always casually touching. I think his name is Ghost, but that seems wrong. No one would be named that.
The other man in the back with us is so handsome. He keeps looking at me, probably horrified by my life. Or he liked my cheerleader outfit.
