~Valeria~
Twenty-four hours later, I was sitting across from Marcus Thornfield the Second because of course he had a "the Second" in his name, wondering if it was possible to die from boredom.
"So then I told my golf instructor that my swing was off because I'd been thinking about quarterly targets," Marcus said, cutting his steak with so much concentration like a perfect surgeon. "Business never stops, you know?"
"
~Valeria~Twenty-four hours later, I was sitting across from Marcus Thornfield the Second because of course he had a "the Second" in his name, wondering if it was possible to die from boredom."So then I told my golf instructor that my swing was off because I'd been thinking about quarterly targets," Marcus said, cutting his steak with so much concentration like a perfect surgeon. "Business never stops, you know?""
~Valeria~One more lecture about "making smart choices with your family and for your future" would officially push me over the edge.Apparently, my mom wouldn’t stop going on about how I had been running my own life lately. "I'm jus
~Valeria~I'd been staring at my bedroom ceiling for the past three hours, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Elena Blackwood's knowing smile and heard her voice asking about my "unusual dreams."The woman knew. She fucking knew something about me, about my family, about whatever the hell was happening to me. And I'd just stood there like a deer in headlights, letting Landon rescue me instead of demanding answers.
~Caius~Watching Valeria's chemistry grade drop from a B+ to a D- was like watching someone slowly drown in front of me, and I was the only one who seemed to notice she was going under.I sat in my room, staring at the progress report her teacher had emailed me because apparently I was the only brother who actually cared about her academic future, feeling that familiar knot of worry tighten in my chest. Three failed quizzes in two weeks. Missing assignments. A girl who used to ask thoughtful questions in class now spending most
~Valeria~"Can I think about it?""Of course. But the event is this Saturday, so don't think too long.""Saturday as in three days from now?""Is that a problem?"
~Valeria~If one more person asked me if I was "okay" today, I was going to scream until my lungs gave out.I sat at the lunch table, mechanically chewing a sandwich that tasted like cardboard, trying to ignore the concerned looks everyone kept shooting my way. Apparently, my "I'm totally fine and definitely didn't break into my stepfather's study last night only to discover he's been hiding massive secrets about my dead father" performance needed some work.