If There's a Next Life

I scrambled out of bed. The second I saw what was happening at the door, my heart nearly leaped out of my throat.Vera stood there with a face like a storm cloud, ordering the staff to throw a cat outside because Sebastian was allergic to cat hair.The cat was Biscuit, the twelve-year-old tabby I'd brought from my parents' house, the one who'd grown up right alongside me.She lay listless on the floor, and it felt like someone had taken a punch straight through my chest.I scooped her up immediately, my voice gone cold. "Leave if you want to leave. Don't touch my cat."Before Vera could even respond, Sebastian, wearing my pajamas, cut in indignantly."This is Vera's house. You don't get to kick her out."I gave a short, humorless laugh. Both our families had put up the money for this mansion as a wedding gift.If anyone here had no right to open his mouth, it was Sebastian.My eyes landed on him. He'd grown up dirt poor, his mother dead young, his father useless, until he ende

Vera gave me one long look, then grabbed Sebastian and pulled him away.I didn't want to think about any of it, so after washing up I went straight to bed.Just as I was drifting off, Mom's call jolted me awake."Pack a bag, Grayson. Your dad and I are coming to see you tomorrow."Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore refuse to believe their daughter would do something so reckless, so they'll be there too."We'll get everything out in the open between both families then."We also got to the bottom of the security footage. The person who went into Sebastian's room that night was his ex-girlfriend. He was wide awake when he let her in. So where's the drugging supposed to have come from? Where's the missing kidney?"My hands trembled a little, not from fear, but from the sheer thrill of finally knowing the truth.I hung up after talking things through with Mom.After tomorrow, this would all finally be over.That night I slept better than I had since coming back to this life.But before I'd e

"Vera, save me! I'm so scared. Why are there so many people in the house?"Vera looked dazed for a moment, but the second her eyes landed on the marks on my face, she froze completely.She shoved Sebastian aside and hurried toward me.The instant she reached out to me on reflex, my mom slapped her hand away.Her voice shook with fury. "Get away from him! Thanks to that lover of yours, we're not letting either of you off easy."The words had barely left her mouth when the police pushed through the door.Sebastian stood frozen, shaking. His so-called friends tried to slip along the wall toward the exit, but the officers blocked them instantly.Todd shook his head like a rattle drum. "This has nothing to do with me. We're just guests here. If you've got a problem, go talk to him."The rest of them jumped on that immediately, all pointing at Sebastian. "That's right, officers, go after him. He's the one who told us to do it."Sebastian's eyes went bloodshot, staring at them in dis

"Grayson, what's been going on with you lately? Why won't you answer any of my calls?"Her voice was careful, cautious, a world away from the way she used to talk down to me.I'd just lost a game with some friends, so I sounded a little irritated. "What are you doing at my house?"Ever since we'd parted ways that day, her father had wired over 100 million dollars, and our engagement had been formally called off.Given her personality, I'd figured she'd never show her face again.Instead, within days, Vera had dropped everything at the company and started showing up to corner me every single day.Seeing my open irritation, humiliation flickered across her face.She stared at me and begged, her tone unusually meek. "Can we skip the cold shoulder? Let's just talk this out instead of fighting."Fighting? Listening to her casually toss that word around nearly made me laugh out loud.I'd been held down and slapped a dozen times, and to her, that counted as just a squabble.I turned