Chapter 94: It's The TruthFlashback: 8 years agoThe door swung open, and there he was.Professor Kingston. The star of my nightmare. His teeth flashed in a wide grin, his laugh filling the doorway. My father was laughing too, deep and hearty, as if the two of them had just shared the best joke in the world. Kingston’s hand clapped my father’s shoulder like they were brothers, not predator and victim’s parent.Back then I was still deluded. I believed my father was a good man. So I wondered what he was doing with Professor Kingston. The devil himself. But now, I knew better. They were birds of the same feather. My father was a horrible man. He was a bad man. Just like his best friend. The world tilted, spinning around me. My knees nearly buckled as I struggled to breathe. My mother’s hand pressed firmly into my back, nudging me forward like I was being pushed onto a stage. I didn’t want to move. I wanted to run. My body screamed at me to turn, to flee, to disappear before his eye
Chapter 93: Please Believe Me Flashback: 8 years ago. (TW: Mentions of sexual assault. Proceed with caution)Savannah “Mom!”My scream tore through the kitchen as I burst through the back door, the hinges rattling from the force. My throat burned from crying, but I couldn’t stop calling her. “Mom! Where are you? Mommy!”Every step was agony. My legs wobbled, my thighs rubbed against torn, stinging skin. The ache between them was unbearable, raw in a way I couldn’t make sense of. My chest heaved, lungs dragging in air that wouldn’t reach deep enough. My eyes itched, bloodshot, swollen from hours of tears.“Mom! Dad!” My voice cracked as I stumbled further inside, clutching the counter like I’d collapse if I let go. “Where is everybody?!”“Shhh! Savannah, keep your voice down.”The sound startled me. I whipped around, heart thudding painfully against my ribs.It was Alyssa.Her brows pinched together, lips pressed tight. “Why are you screaming like that? What happened?”Relief slamme
Chapter 92: Lying Is A Sin “Savannah, let’s not go there. Please.”I laughed, unamused and bitter. How typical. How predictable. That was what everyone did. They dodged, they squirmed, they built little walls of silence around the truth as if ignoring it long enough would scrub it clean. Or maybe magically make it reality. But the thing about silence is that it doesn’t erase. It festers. And if you’ve lived with a festering wound as long as I have, you learn to recognize the stink. You learn to live with it. Get used to it. Become it. “That’s just it, Uncle Jace,” I snapped, the words tearing out of me before I could cage them. “Why does everyone do this? You all push me to the edge, then you stand back and point to the pit like it’s my fault I fell in in the first place. Why can’t any of you—just once—admit what you did to me? Why can’t you fucking admit it, Uncle Jace?”The phone trembled in my sweaty grip. I didn’t even realize I was crying until the salt hit my lips.“You all m
Chapter 91: Everyone Loves You Savannah I hated cleaning. More than Chloe, more than Cassandra, more than every single person who had ever made it their life mission to chip away at me, I hated the feeling of wiping down someone else’s mess, even if that “someone” was just me and the dust bunnies under my couch.Two days after Roman dropped me off and helped carry my things in, that’s all I had been doing—cleaning, scrubbing, pretending that organizing clutter somehow organized the mess inside my head that finally occurred to me. For a vacation that lasted barely a week, my apartment had transformed into a disaster zone, as if the dust itself had thrown a rave party while I was gone. Dishes I swore I washed before leaving were suspiciously dirty, clothes I never wore were sprawled across my bed, and my bathroom mirror had developed a fine layer of filth that made me question if I even lived like a human being anymore.I was also thinking of adopting a pet. Maybe a kitten or a puppy
Chapter 90: Don't GoRomanI tossed the note into the fireplace on my way upstairs, watching it curl and blacken before the flames devoured it. I couldn’t risk Savannah seeing it. Not when I was already treading on ice with her.Each step up the staircase felt heavier than the last, dread clinging to me like a second skin. The house was suddenly quiet. Too quiet. I should’ve been relieved that Reese was gone, that he had finally thrown himself and his loudness out of my home like the brat he was, but instead the silence wrapped itself around my throat. And threatened not to let go. When I stopped in front of my bedroom, the air felt different. It was cold, and still. My instincts warned me to prepare for war from the girl upstairs. Jesus Christ. How pathetic was this? I was Roman Blackwood, and yet I stood hesitating at the door to my own bedroom, afraid of the storm waiting inside. Afraid of her.Savannah.She was my best friend. My fiancée. My anchor in this goddamn mess of a life
Chapter 89: Blackwood Manor RomanI should have known something was wrong the moment Reese claimed he had a migraine this morning.The bastard had faked the whole thing. A ridiculous little stunt just to buy himself more time. I should’ve seen it coming, because of course he would pull something like that. And now, thanks to him, my house has been invaded.My evil father and his harlot of a wife were here. Inside my walls. Breathing my air. Standing on my goddamn floor. And worse—they’d cornered Savannah while I was gone.I’d left for a run to warm-up a bit. Then I took the time to visit Penny before stopping by the store to get a few things for Savannah, including her pills. Reese knew exactly where I’d gone, and he knew I wasn’t giving him the option of staying much longer. He was supposed to be gone before I got back. Instead, I returned to find sleek black cars lined up outside my house like a funeral procession outside my house. The sight made my stomach twist, rage clawing at m