PROLOGUE- CHAPTER 1

PROLOGUE

The rain had started ten minutes ago.

Holly Voss hated driving in storms, but tonight the weather was the least of her worries. Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel as the wipers dragged across the windshield again and again.

She should never have agreed to meet him.

The empty road stretched ahead, slick and dark beneath the headlights. The city lights of Blackthorn glowed faintly in the distance, but out here the world felt too quiet.

Her phone buzzed in the passenger seat, another message .She glanced at the screen and felt her stomach drop.

Unknown Number–

“Turn around.”

Holly’s pulse quickened. Her eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, at first she saw nothing but darkness. Then headlights appeared, far behind her, too steady and deliberate.

Her breath caught, “No,” she whispered.

The car behind her accelerated. Rain pounded harder now, drumming against the roof. The headlights grew brighter in the mirror until they filled the entire glass.

She pressed harder on the accelerator. The engine roared as her car sped down the empty road.

Another message flashed across her phone.

“You shouldn’t have found out.”

Her hands began to shake. She grabbed the phone and dialed the only number she could think of.

It rang once.

Twice.

Then someone answered.

“Holly?” the voice said.

Fear cracked through her chest. “They know,” she whispered urgently. “If anything happens to me–”

A violent impact slammed into the back of her car. The phone slipped from her hand as the vehicle spun across the wet asphalt. Metal screamed, glass shattered, the world flipped sideways. And then…Darkness.

CHAPTER 1

The world believes my father murdered Adrian Voss’s mother.

I know he didn’t. The problem is… I can’t prove it.

And now I’m here, outside the gates of Blackthorn University, the last place I should ever return.

Aunt Frieda parked the car. As I stepped through the Blackthorn archway, a strange unease crept up my spine.

This was Adrian’s world .His family owned half the buildings on this campus. If he saw me here…I didn’t know what he would do.

 I shook the chill that settled on me, and took my time to look around. I was in awe, pictures didn’t capture the beauty and prestige everyone sang of.. Aunt Freida stepped out and helped move all my other luggages to the dormitory.

“Keira my dear. I’ve got to go now, be a good girl”, Aunt Freida my mom’s twin patted my head and zoomed away like on a tight schedule.

I spent all afternoon putting together my side of the room. It was a beautiful space for two, and bigger than our entire living room back home.

I was about to grab a quick nap when the door knob clicked and a girl burst into the room. She had the darkest hair I’d ever seen, with waves that framed a freckled doll face.

“Hello, hello. I’m Martina Juan, we’ll be sharing the room for the year!” Said the girl so energetic, I shook her outstretched hands stunned. “I’m Keira Reed” I muttered. Martina smiled at me “Keira, you’re beautiful! I look forward to adventures with you”. That made me smile, I had gotten used to being away from people and mostly around mom. It was nice having someone want to warm up to me.

 I spend the next couple of hours chatting away with Martina, while I helped put together her space. I asked questions about her life, which she told me about, she was Latina, with well to do parents. She had a comfortable apartment off campus the previous year, but chose to move to the dorm this year. “ why though?” I asked.

“I’ve never had a sibling, I just got this crazy thought that I could make a sister out of a roomie if I tried the dorms, moreover they are comfy…it was just an impulse move.” She said with a kind smile on her face, “so tell me about you”.

I avoided saying so much about myself, there wasn’t much happening these days, and neither did I want to mention what happened that night, two years ago that put mama and I into the hell we’d been enduring since then. So I simply  told her father had passed, and mama used to be a business woman but was too unwell to continue these days. I added that I was here on a fully funded scholarship from taking an online course at a community college in Brookeshire.

I hated pity and I half expected that from Martina, that maybe she’d shrink away from a lower class girl like myself, but instead she smiled sadly at me and pulled me in for a hug. I was stunned for a moment, then I hugged her back. “Thank you Martina”, I sighed. “What for?” she asked pulling away smiling. “That was a nice hug”, I smiled back.

Night had covered. I and Marti had settled in nicely, she was already asleep, while I lay in bed replaying the entire day in my mind–

Earlier that morning, Mama had walked in, smiling sadly, and I sat up to make space on my bed for her. She smelled of vanilla and lavender, as usual. When I was little, I used to sing about her being a cookie to Father. Even now, with tired gray eyes and her copper-brown hair thinning, she was still as beautiful as she had been when Father was alive.

I laid my head in her lap as she stroked my hair. “I’m going to miss you, Keira,” she had said quietly. “We’ve stayed hidden long enough. You deserve a normal life. I hope this transfer and scholarship give you that.”

I sat up and looked at her. “Are you crying, Mama?”

I kissed her forehead the way she and Papa used to do for me. “I’ll be safe, Mama. I need you to be strong for me. I’ll take care of myself at school. Besides … didn’t you say you were tired of seeing my cheeky face?” I smiled at her.

“I wasn’t that tired”, she flicked my nose chuckling.

The doorbell rang. “Aunt Freida should be here,” I said, scooping up my phone and purse. Mom fell into step behind me.

Aunt Freida peered at me through heart-shaped lenses and hugged me so hard I could smell oud and spices. “Ready?” she asked. She was all sharp lines and beige, exactly the kind of woman who made people straighten their shoulders just to look at her. Mom was the soft color to her sister’s hard edge, and they fit together the way mismatched puzzle pieces somehow do.

“Felicia,” Aunt Freida said to Mama, and then checked her watch as if making sure the world moved on schedule.

Mom squeezed me into a hug, I kissed her on the cheek, tears streaming down both our faces. I climbed into the car, while aunt Freida passed me a box of tissues. We pulled away my throat tight and my stomach a ball of nerves. I told myself a thousand times I wouldn’t look back. This was my chance at a new beginning and the better life I’d sworn to give myself and mom.

I fell asleep dreaming of mama waving In the distance.

I had soon come to realize that the weather here at Blackthorn came with high temperatures these first two months. It was bearable considering that practically every facility here was blasting air conditioners at all times, outside of the buildings the humidity and heat was persistent. Only two days here I noticed that my copper blonde hair was getting lighter and my usually fair skin was beginning to tan. Not that I minded.

Even at 7am, I had sweat pouring down my face, and soaking my tank top, my shorts we sticking to my thighs. I was out on another morning jog with Martina, who was very sporty and fit. I used to be a track athlete back at high school. It had been ages since I went on a run.

“Marti, I think I’m gonna die”, I broke our stride, bending over to catch my breath. She chuckled and stopped. “Lazy much. We’re only eighteen minutes in.” She said checking her sports timer and still looking like she was only taking a brisk morning walk.

“Better than yesterday’s fourteen minutes if we’re being fair”, I winced as a muscle pull tightened my calf, and I kicked and hopped for some relief. “You’re going to bump into someone, let’s get you over to one of those benches”, she threw my arms over her shoulders and pulled me away, weaving through other pedestrians and morning joggers.

We slowed near the old elm tree that shaded the far lawn. Something about the place made the back of my neck prickle. A strange feeling settled in my chest, as if someone was watching me. I swung my head around.

He stood leaning against a pillar, sunlight cutting sharp lines across his face. His hair was longer than I remembered, chestnut strands swept across his forehead, slightly tousled like he’d run his fingers through it one too many times and hadn’t bothered to fix it. A lock of hair slipped into his eyes when he tilted his head, and he pushed it back absentmindedly. Fitted in charcoal joggers and a dark athletic shirt that clung to his shoulders, with sleeves pushed up just enough to reveal strong forearms. Sweat darkened the collar slightly, but he didn’t look tired. He still looked untouchable, someone who owned the world, polished and sharp like those marble statues we’d once flown to Greece to see with our families. Some things don’t change.

He watched me with hawk eyes. I saw it, just for a fraction of a second, the slight tightening of his chiseled jaw, the way his shoulders stilled, before his expression settled into something dark and unreadable.

Martina followed my eyes, “You know him?” she whispered.

I didn’t answer. My stomach had already dropped to my feet.

He didn’t hesitate. He walked towards me like he’d been waiting for this moment. Each step bold and certain.  A few students slowed as he passed them, instinctively stepping out of his way. The air felt heavier with every second. When he stopped in front of me, close enough that I could see the faint scar near his temple, one I remembered from childhood , the morning air suddenly felt too thin. Up close I could see how much he’d changed, broader shoulders, sharper features, but his eyes were the same. Those gray orbs with flecks of green, protected by black rings, locked onto mine. They weren’t warm anymore. They were chilling.

“Keira,” he said evenly.

Hearing my name in his deep smooth voice after all these years felt stepping on glass.

“Adrian,” I replied.

“I was wondering how long it would take,” he said quietly. My throat went dry. “How long what would take?”

“For you to crawl back,” he said quietly. His eyes flicked over me like I was something unpleasant.

“Did your mother really think this through… sending you here?”

My pulse thudded so loudly I was sure Martina could hear it. I forced my shoulders back even though I felt frozen and numb.

“I earned my place here,” I said, and hated the slight tremor in my voice. That pulled a slight smirk out of Adrian. His gaze didn’t soften, if anything it sharpened. “Did you?” He asked quietly.

The question wasn’t about grades. My eyes burned but I refused to look away, “Say what you mean,” I managed. “Or don’t say anything at all”.

 He stepped closer, and leaned in just enough for me to smell danger mixed with fresh air and expensive soap, with a trace of sweat that only made the clean musk beneath it stronger. It shouldn’t have affected me, but It did. My body remembered before my mind allowed it. Lowering his voice just enough that Martina wouldn’t hear.

“You don’t get to rewrite history by transferring schools, Keira.”

Martina cleared her throat. “Is there a problem?”. Adrian glanced at her for the first time, assessing.

“Not yet,” he said calmly.

 He held my gaze one second longer than necessary, “This time”, he said quietly “you won’t walk away untouched.” He walked away.

Martina exhaled beside me.

“Okay… what the hell was that about?”

I watched Adrian disappear across the lawn. My stomach twisted.

“Someone who thinks my father murdered his mother.”