LOGIN~ LISA ~Someone was pounding on Mark's door at eleven at night. Both of us looked at each other.Fear gripped me, scared I had brought trouble to my brother's home. Mark got there first, already rolling up his sleeves almost as if he was a man who fights strangers for a living, which he does not. My brother manages a logistics office, he wasn't a boxer but I guess he throws a good punch after all I specifically taught each of my siblings how to.He looked through the peephole and his whole body went very stiff. "It's him," he sneered. "It's the younger Hill, boy."My heart dropped to my stomach and for a while, I forgot how to breathe. "Lisa." Jackson's voice came through the door, loud and urgent as he continued pounding on the door. "I know you're in there. Open the door or I will stand here all night.""Do not open it," Mark warned.But I shook my head at him. “ He won't leave if I don't.” And as such, I opened the door. Jackson stood in the hallway with his hair disheveled a
~ JACKSON ~I couldn't sleep that night, all I kept thinking about was how Victor called me at nine in later in the night."Come to the estate," he ordered. "You must come alone tonight.""Victor, I have a five a.m. call time for the morning show…""Jackson." His voice did not rise but I knew he was on his last straw. "Come home tonight."He hung up before I could argue.I sat on the edge of my bed for a full minute staring at the phone. Victor did not summon people. My brother arranged things so that people arrived on their own and believed it was their idea.But a direct summons meant the game was over on something, I did not know on what it is.I stood up and dressed up to leave wondering what he wanted. The drive home felt longer than usual. The gates opened for me and the house sat there shining against the dark, all forty rooms of it.Because of this, for the first time in my life I looked at my family home and felt dread instead of boredom.The butler directed me to the stud
~ LISA ~Every thought about safety that's being burned in my head flew away in one second. I should have ran away and called my brother, Mark while waiting on the street like a smart person.Instead, I put my keys through my fingers, unlocked the door like a thief, and tiptoed inside.I was met with silence and the sound of traffic below with my fridge humming. There was nothing else, I scanned the room in darkness holding my breath but I got nothing but silence. I rushed to flip on every light in the apartment before I moved another step. My living room looked untouched and somehow that made my skin crawl because it means, it wasn't a simple but actually who I was suspecting.My eyes went to my laptop, it was sitting exactly where I left it. The cash in the kitchen tin was still in the kitchen tin. The picture of my parents in the hallway hung straight because I had straightened it myself a few days ago.I went straight to the closet and pulled out the vacuum cleaner. My hands
~ LISA ~The scandal was the only thing anyone talked about for three days and Lord did I enjoy it too much more than their fake cover of being good. While in the office, Emma, my colleague, played the morning show clips at her desk with the volume too loud, probably forgetting she was at work.Clients who came in for fittings and spent half the appointment whispering about Melissa Blackfield's ruined marriage. Even Marty, who never gossiped, walked past my desk on Tuesday, paused, and said, "The Hills are having a very bad week," in a voice that was almost sad.If only he knew, I kept a small smile and I kept my head down and my face bored. Inside, I was cackling and keeping score. Two sponsors had pulled out of the Hill Foundation dinner and the senator had filed for separation. Victor's name was a punchline on late-night television. It was not justice and he was not acting the way I had expected but it doesn't matter.At least, the world is going to stop seeing them as the perf
~ JACKSON ~My phone woke me at 6:14 in the morning and it wouldn't stop when I ignored it. The buzz went on nonstop until I slapped the nightstand blindly, knocked over a water glass, and finally got the thing in my hand.When I looked at it, I had fucking forty-seven missed calls and two hundred and twelve messages. My publicist alone had called eleven times.My first stupid thought was that something had happened to Lisa. My second thought was that something had leaked about the fake relationship. I didn't know what prompted me but I opened the group chat my castmates kept, and saw the headline someone had pasted there, and sat up so fast my head spun.HILL HEIR AND THE SENATOR'S WIFE: THE PHOTOS THAT WILL END TWO OLD ERAS.Below it, a photo of my brother with his fingers buried in Melissa's hair, kissing her like the cameras of the entire country were not pointing at his family name."Oh no," I hissed to my empty bedroom. "Oh no, no, no."I scrolled and Lord was the photos every
~ LISA ~Mark did not let go of my arm until we were inside my apartment.He slammed the door behind us and turned on me with the same face our father used to make when one of us came home late. Except Mark was not our father. He was my little brother acting like he had grown a badge."Explain," he demanded.I dropped my purse on the counter and said nothing."Lisa, I am talking to you,” he hissed out looking furious. “David is in the hospital with a fever that would not break, I am running between the pharmacy and his ward all evening, I come here to grab his insurance papers, and I find you outside in a car kissing Jackson Hill." He spat the name with so much venom. I knew how that looked but it's okay, a kiss is not sex and even if I choose to have sex with him, so what?"We are talking about Jackson Hill, Lisa,” he screamed, looking like he was about to pull out his hair.” “ A fucking Hill. Do you know what that name did to us? Do you remember, or did his cologne wipe your memo
~ EVANGELINE ~ I woke up and my shoulder was screaming in pain even worse than yesterday. The cold cloth had fallen off during the night and my arm was swollen and bruised. I sat up slowly and bit my lip to keep from making noise. I was already late. Getting dressed with one hand took forever.
~ EVANGELINE ~The alarm rang before sunrise and I turned it off quickly. Victoria hated when I was late.I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. The guest bedroom was freezing, as always, and I have been stuck here for the past two years of my marriage with Jason because he never let me sleep i
~ EVANGELINE’S POV ~Blaire had been acting strange since she arrived.She kept glancing toward the building entrance every few minutes while pretending to sort through the files she had brought for Damien, and twice she started a sentence and stopped herself before finishing it.I noticed but said
~ EVANGELINE POV ~I picked up the folder, and it was heavier than it looked.I opened it and read the header, then read it again because the first reading didn't fully sink in.The Linden contract.I knew this contract. Everyone in the European fashion world knows about this contract. It was the







