Chapter 1

I'd just finished sorting out my paperwork to leave the country when Vivian Saunders, the school belle, came walking straight toward me.

She glanced at the passport and visa on the desk and paused for a moment.

"Why didn't you wait for me?"

It took me a few seconds to realize she meant the trip abroad we'd once planned to take together. Too bad. This wasn't a tourist visa.

I gathered up the documents on the desk and shook my head without a word.

She saw my reaction and softened her voice, coaxing, "I haven't forgotten. It's just that Leon's injury hasn't healed yet. Can we wait until he's fully recovered before we go?"

Leon Kallen, the transfer student, had broken his leg after Vivian shoved him out of harm's way, and he still had a few weeks left before his cast came off.

"No need, Vivian. Where I'm going has nothing to do with you."

Her smile faded. "Mike, I know you're upset with me, but I already told you, I just didn't want to owe him anything.

"And it's been months. You didn't start on the paperwork to leave until I was fully healed. Isn't that proof enough you were waiting for me all along?"

A dull ache spread through my chest.

Vivian still thought I'd been waiting on her. In truth, I'd submitted my application the very night she'd thrown herself in front of Leon to take the blade meant for him.

It was only the paperwork that had taken this long, and somehow that had become her excuse to grow more and more presumptuous.

That one was on me too. I'd been too willing to grovel back then, handing her affection she'd never given me a reason to deserve.

"I only didn't want him to get hurt because of me. I wasn't trying to humiliate you. But you got jealous, and..."

Vivian's coaxing tone shifted back into its usual coldness.

"You've been giving me the cold shoulder for months now, and it's put both me and Leon in an awkward position. Every time I try to talk to you, I have to put up with people whispering behind my back.

"I think you need a little reminder."

She kept her eyes fixed on me without moving, picked up her phone, and said in a level voice to her staff, "Artie, go ahead and let Mike's father go."

I parted my lips slightly, my heart sinking.

Vivian put the call on speaker.

Artie's hesitant voice came through. "Miss, Jerry Teegan's worked for our family for almost ten years. Letting him go like this doesn't feel right. Besides, aren't you and Jerry's son, Mike..."

Vivian cut him off without mercy. "I said let him go. Right now. NOW."

Not three minutes later, my dad sent me a message: [Mike, did you offend Miss Saunders?]

A second later, the message was recalled.

I clenched my fists and stared at Vivian without a word, fury building in my chest.

My family had gone bankrupt ten years ago. It was Walter Saunders, Vivian's father, who'd given my dad a position and kept us from falling any further.