Chapter 3

I had been too proud when I was younger to tell James what happened. I was afraid he would think less of me, so for four years, I'd carried it alone.

The memory left me dazed, and when James tried to pull me toward the car, every part of me recoiled. I stumbled backward. "I'm not going. I'm not going!"

Something in him finally snapped. He wrapped his arms around me and held on tight, his voice raw with anguish. "What do you want from me? Fine. I won't see Lily anymore. Is that what you want?"

In the darkness, he sounded so devastated that anyone listening might have thought I was the one making unreasonable demands.

Then his phone rang.

I knew the ringtone immediately. He had set a special one just for Lily.

Already furious, James answered with a curse. "Stop fucking calling me!"

Whatever she said on the other end wiped the anger from his face. He went deathly pale, and just like that, the promise he'd made seconds ago ceased to matter.

"Wendy." Panic filled his face as he gripped my shoulders. "Lily's going to kill herself."

His fingers dug directly into my cuts. Blood seeped from the wounds and wet his hand, but he didn't even notice. I was trembling from the pain, yet when I answered him, my voice had never been calmer.

"Oh. Go on then."

He released me immediately.

"Wendy, I promise. This is the last time."

I watched him disappear into the night without sadness or anger. All I felt was relief.

Because I knew it wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last.

Back inside, I calmly cleaned and dressed my wounds. It wasn't long before James called.

"Wendy, I got to Lily in time. She's still pretty unstable, so I'm taking her to the hospital to get something to calm her down. Graduation's coming up, and she's been really emotional lately, so try to be understanding.

"I can't leave right now. Can you order a dress for her as a graduation gift? It'll cheer her up. Her bust is thirty-three and a half inches, waist twenty-three, weight ninety-six..."

He continued rattling off details while a dull hum filled my head. My gaze drifted to the wedding dress hanging in the middle of the living room.

James had always been attentive. When it came to Lily, he remembered everything.

Yet he hadn't noticed that I'd had the waist of my wedding dress let out three inches.

It was supposed to be a surprise for him on our wedding day.

I lowered my eyes to the slight curve of my stomach, and the tears I'd been holding back finally fell.

I deleted James from my contacts and scheduled an abortion.

The next morning, violent pounding on the door jolted me awake. James stormed in and yanked me to my feet, barely containing his anger.

"Wendy Jones, I always thought you were a kind person. I never imagined you could stoop this low."

My mind went blank. I had no idea what he was talking about.

His face twisted with disgust. "Don't play dumb. You think I don't know you're the reason Lily can't graduate?"

Lily skipped classes and failed her courses. What did any of that have to do with me?

Before I could say so, James gave a cold laugh.

"Your stepfather teaches at her university, doesn't he? Are you seriously going to tell me he had nothing to do with this?"

It felt as though my heart had been torn in two.

Before I knew it, my hand flew across his face.

James knew better than anyone that I'd cut my stepfather out of my life.

Five years ago, after an argument between my brother and me, my stepfather had used being drunk as an excuse to come into my bedroom. He pinned me to the bed, one thick hand tightening around my throat until I could barely breathe. I had no strength against him. I could only lie there like a fish dragged from the water, suffocating beneath his grip.

Just when I'd lost all hope, James had burst in.

He knocked my stepfather down with one furious punch, then grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head into the wall over and over. He didn't stop until I wrapped my arms around him from behind and finally brought him back to his senses.

James knew exactly what that man had done to me.

And now he believed I would work with him to hurt Lily.

Numbness spread through my fingertips as an icy chill settled over my entire body. I pointed at the door.

"Get out. And never come near me again."

Before the words had even left my mouth, Lily rushed in through the open door and dropped to her knees in front of me.

"Wendy, please. I'm begging you, just leave me alone. I know I've done things I shouldn't have, but you're ruining my life. If I can't even get my diploma, how am I supposed to find a job?"