Chapter 3

Time seemed to stop.

The wound at the back of my head and my newly injured leg throbbed with pain.

But neither came close to the agony of my heart tearing open.

The woman I had loved most had personally designed the trap that sent me to hell.

Vanessa seemed to realize she had revealed too much.

Her face went white and her lips trembled, but she could not produce a word.

I stared at her in despair and asked softly, "Why?

"Why would you treat me so cruelly?"

Vanessa sighed as though I were the unreasonable one.

"Mason only started that fight because he was jealous of your grades.

"When you think about it, this all began because of you.

"You're intelligent and hardworking. You could find another path without college."

Yet six years earlier, she had said she despised idle troublemakers like Mason.

She was the one who encouraged me to sit for the entrance exams again and focus on studying.

She had even promised to hide my plans from my parents so they could not destroy my dream of attending West Point.

When Mason stood outside my apartment shouting through a bullhorn, Vanessa filed a nuisance complaint and had him removed.

When he splashed paint across my door, she took me to the police, demanded the security footage, and insisted on pressing charges.

She had once been my only ally against that family, the only light in my darkest years.

But looking back now, whenever she complained about Mason's shameless behavior, there had been more embarrassment than disgust in her eyes.

The signs of Vanessa's betrayal had been there all along.

A basin of ice water struck me and dragged me out of my memories.

Mom stood over me holding the empty container, disgust filling her face.

"Who gave you permission to bully your brother?

"You're not welcome in this house. Get as far away from us as you can!"

Dad grabbed a broom and brought it down across my body.

"You ungrateful son! All you've ever done is torment your brother!

"I wish you had never been born!"

I seized the broom head and flung it aside.

"I wish you had never been my father."

Dad gasped with rage.

I endured the pain, braced myself against the wall, and forced my back straight.

My gaze moved across the four familiar faces that had become strangers.

"From this moment on, I, Julian Reckitt, have no family ties to any of you."

Whatever their reaction was, I limped to a nearby urgent-care clinic.

The treatment consumed most of the money I had earned in prison.

I still had a week before the appointment I had arranged with someone important.

So I found the cheapest motel I could.

The moment my phone finished charging, a message from Mason appeared.

It was a photograph of a bloodstained white bedsheet.

Then came several lines of text.

"Your first night in prison, I was already Vanessa's first."

"I told you before. Good grades never meant you could beat me."

"Anything you value, I'll take, whether it's our parents' love or your girlfriend."

I stared at the obscene photograph.

The red stain burned into my vision like a hot iron.

My stomach turned, and I rushed into the bathroom and vomited until there was nothing left.

Once I had forced myself back together, I blocked him.

Morning still came, and I still had to survive.

I found temporary work stocking shelves at a convenience store.

On my third day there, Vanessa came looking for me.