Chapter 1

Elara

“What’s going on?”

The champagne flute in my hand crashes to the ground, shattering into pieces all over the polished floor. I felt my legs buckling beneath me as I crashed hard into the floor. I felt my vision spin wildly as I tried to make out what was going on around me.

I tried calling for help, but my throat was choked up. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like something heavy was crushing my chest and squeezing the life out of me with every second that passed. Panic flooded through me as I gasped uselessly.

“What a sight to behold,” I heard the voice of that insolent worm, Rozetta Pierrepont. “The untouchable campus queen is reduced to nothing but a disgusting wretch,” she cooed at me in that fake sweet voice while others around us laughed like it was the most funniest thing in the world.

“Look at her thinking she is better than us because of her family’s fortune,” I heard my boyfriend Damon Blanton’s voice say, the disgust unable to be hidden in his tone.

“He…lp m…e,” I managed to wheeze out weakly, reaching desperately for his pant leg, hoping he would at least look at me. But the chilling voice of Rozetta answered me instead.

“Now why would we want to do that when we were the ones who…” she said, stepping closer to me deliberate and slow, her body looming over me. “Poisoned you,” she finished, stepping on my hand with the sole of her stilettos, grinding down with all her weight.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” I let out a blood-curdling scream, the pain shooting through my entire body like fire. I tried backing away from her, my other hand frantically clawing, trying to push her foot away even as tears clouded my vision.

Pow!

I felt a sting across my left cheek. “How dare you push me!” Rozetta shrieked, yanking a fistful of my hair so hard it felt like she was ripping it from my scalp.

“Baby, don’t stain your hand with trash like her,” Damon said, which made her loosen her grip on me, collapsing into his arms instead.

“You are right, baby,” she said, leaning in to kiss him right there in front of me. “We still have the Voss fortune to enjoy,” she said. I looked at her with hatred anger burning in my chest, the betrayal cutting deeper than any physical pain.

“I sup…ported you,” I wheezed out, staring at Damon with everything I had left. “I used… my fa…mily’s resources to get… you where you are,” I said, staring at him with confusion and pain twisting inside me. “Why? Why, Da…mon?” I asked, my voice barely holding together.

He scoffed at my words. “Please,” he said, stepping closer to me and pulling away from her. “I became the national hockey champion and captain through my own merit,” he said, pressing down on the hand Rozetta had already stepped on, grinding it. the pain intensified even more than before. “The only thing you did was use people and discard them when they were done being useful. Rozetta was the one who supported me,” he said, wrapping his hand around her again.

I didn’t know why, but I started to laugh. Small at first, but then it grew into full-blown laughter. “I cursed the day I met you and helped an ungrateful swine like you,” I said, tears streaming down my face even as I laughed like a lunatic. The betrayal felt like a knife twisting in my heart.

“Tch,” she tsked at me. “Just die already, Elara Voss,” she said, kicking my head hard. I coughed out more blood as my vision grew darker, the echoes of their laughter ringing in my ears. The only sound i heard before darkness took over completely.

**

“Elara,” I heard someone say my name softly. “Elara,” they repeated. This time, I felt them shaking me gently. I snapped my eyes open, and I was met with blinding lights overhead.

Focusing on the figure in front of me, I was met with the face of Paisley Morrison, my best friend.

“Is this the afterlife?” I asked her, leaning forward to hug her tightly. “It’s so good to see you again, Pai,” I said, crying softly against her as the memories of what happened before I died flooded back.

“What’s going on with you, Elara?” she said with a serious tone, clearly worried.

“I died,” I blurted out, releasing her slowly.

She touched my forehead. “Are you coming down with something?” she said, crossing her arms. “You fell asleep during the game. The guys won, by the way, and Zane texted that they were in the locker room.”

“The game?” I asked incredulously. What game? Was everything that happened all a dream? But it felt so real, the pain, the poison, their laughter, the betrayal.

“We have to go,” Paisley said, linking my arm around hers and lifting me up. “Your boyfriend is waiting,” she said with boredom.

Boyfriend?

She led the way towards the inner part of the building till we were in front of the locker room. Pushing the door aside, we both stepped in. I froze when I saw the two people in front of me.

Damon and Rozetta.

I didn’t know what came over me. I marched up to where she and Damon were and spun Rozetta around, swinging my arm to land a resounding slap.

The entire locker room froze at that.

“Elara, what the fuck,” Damon said, shock wearing off.

I turned to him. “Damon, let’s break up.”