LOGINI blink at her, momentarily forgetting everything else.I never taught her that.Not once. Not yet.Then… where did she hear it?Did Nora call him that in front of the girls? Or did Cora simply decide on her own that Griffin had earned that title? Or did Griffin…?I steal a quick glance toward Vera, wondering if she feels the same.She doesn’t react.She’s too busy stacking her building blocks into a crooked little tower.My thoughts spiral before I can stop them.Do I want my daughters to call Griffin Daddy?The question catches me completely off guard. A few months ago, I would’ve said no without even thinking. Damon was still their father, no matter how badly he’d failed them. And Griffin and I were, well, only physically intimate and not emotionally.But now…I don’t know.Griffin has been there for them through every nightmare. He sat beside Cora’s hospital bed. He carried Vera when she refused to let anyone else touch her. He stayed awake through countless nights just to make sur
[Elara]Three days after Damon’s grandparents’ funeral, I find him standing outside my apartment door.He looks… forlorn. And so unlike the Damon Blackwood I’ve known for the better part of my life.He’s not wearing one of those expensive, custom-made suits that make him look like he’s just stepped off the cover of a magazine. Instead, he’s in a simple black T-shirt and jeans. He looks thinner, too, and there are dark circles under his eyes that even the best concealer couldn’t hide.“What do you want?” I ask, my arms crossed over my chest. I’m not in the mood for a conversation. Especially not with him.He flinches at the coldness in my tone, but he doesn’t back down.“I need to talk to you.”“We have nothing to talk about.”“Please, Elara,” he begs, and the sheer desperation in his voice catches me off guard. “I know now that you never came back to give me a second chance. In fact, truth be told, I’ve known it since the day you agreed to come with me. But I was stupid. Blind. Ignora
My words don’t register to her at first.She looks confused, perhaps a little startled, but she doesn’t get it. She doesn’t get that I know.“What are you talking about?” Mom asks, frowning deeply, looking thoroughly annoyed, exhausted, and pissed off.Before I can answer, Celine speaks up, her face twisted with impatience.“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Damon, will you just stop already? What the hell is wrong with you? Since when did you start taking that bitch’s side? We’re your family! We’ve been here for you your whole damn life! Not her! That woman came into your life because she was a selfish, jealous bitch who couldn’t stand seeing you happy.Have you forgotten what she did to Hannah? She pulled every dirty trick she could think of until Hannah had no choice but to run. Sure, Hannah later turned out to be just another lying, manipulative bitch. But that doesn’t change what Elara did. She went after her own sister without a shred of guilt. Her own fucking sister! If she’s capable of scr
The room is a complete disaster.The walls, once covered in Cora’s colorful crayon drawings, are now stripped bare. The drawings lie in a heap on the floor—some torn, some crumpled. The small bed where my daughter used to sleep is unmade, the sheets and blankets thrown aside. Her toys are scattered all over the place, and several of them are broken.Celine stands in the middle of the room, holding one of Cora’s favorite stuffed animals—a fluffy bunny with one ear missing—between two fingers as if it’s contaminated with some disease. Her face is twisted in disgust, and she’s about to drop it into a half-filled garbage bag.“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”Celine jumps, letting out a small shriek. She drops the stuffed bunny, and it lands on the floor with a soft thud.“Damon! What are you doing here? Don’t you know how to knock?”“This is my house!” I roar, stepping toward her. “And this is my daughter’s room! What gives you the right to touch her things? To throw them away?”
[Damon]After Grandpa is moved to a private room, we stay by his side for a while.But when I look at Grandma—at how scared, exhausted, and anxious she appears—I feel like the biggest asshole in the world.I don’t know. It’s just a feeling, and maybe I shouldn’t feel this way. It isn’t my fault Grandpa is in this state right now. Ever since his last stroke, he’s been weak and fragile.But maybe it is my fault to some extent.Grandma says his last stroke was triggered when he heard about Elara and Cora’s accident and their deaths. And today, his health has taken a hit once again because we lost our home.Maybe Mom is right. Maybe I am the reason for my family’s downfall. Maybe I am the curse that single-handedly destroyed everything good in our lives.Dad notices me staring into space and squeezes my shoulder. “You okay?”I shake myself out of my pity party and give him a firm nod. “Of course. I was thinking I should drop you and Grandma off at my place. It’s been a long day, and you b
[Beatrice]I watch in utter disbelief as Damon’s car disappears down the road, leaving Celine and me alone in the cold, dark night.The sheer audacity.The absolute nerve of that ungrateful little brat.He left me.He left us.Stranded.In front of the villa—the home I poured my heart and soul into—that is no longer ours.My son, the heir to the Blackwood fortune, the man who owes me everything, just abandoned me.“Can you believe this?” I turn to Celine, my hands clenched into tight fists. “Can you believe what he just did?”Celine looks at me, her eyes wide with shock, then slowly shakes her head. “No. I can’t. He’s never… he’s never done anything like this before.”“That’s because he’s never had the guts to do anything like this before,” I say, my blood boiling with anger. “But after spending a few days with that gold-digging tramp, he thinks he can talk back to me. He thinks he can disrespect me. He thinks he can get away with this.”I pull out my phone, my fingers shaking with ra
“Elara has always been patient with you,” Grandma says, sighing heavily. “But you, on the other hand, never gave her the time of your life. Even when she was pregnant, you never cared. In fact, you blamed her for taking advantage of you. But have you ever stopped to wonder why she would want to hav
[Elara]The rest of the day I spend with Cora, talking about endless things. Playing games. Being their muse as Miranda and Jazz sketch me with the best of their skills.I also help Jazz with dinner, and we all eat together, chatting away happily.It’s only after Cora and Miranda fall asleep and ar
[Elara]Before letting me into the cell, Officer Bentley allows me to make two calls.One to Jazz, and the other to Gwen.While Jazz sounds calm and collected after hearing my situation, Gwen is full of frantic questions, fussing over me.If it were up to her, she would have taken another hour for
[Griffin]When I was eight, my cousins dragged me out of my room and locked me in the basement. They called it a game—something meant to be fun, something to laugh about later.It wasn’t fun for me. Not even close.It felt like being trapped inside a horror movie, one I desperately wanted to end.I







