Chapter 1

Pain tore through my stomach so suddenly I could barely stay on my feet.

Yuri Stone smiled and ruffled Xander Stone's hair. "Thanks to you, your mom finally settled down. Otherwise, who knows how long it would've taken before the three of us could be a real family out in the open."

The three of them.

A family.

My eyes burned with sudden tears.

If they were a family, what did that make me?

Then a familiar voice came from behind them.

"Jasmine, what did the doctor say?"

Jasmine Shaw lit up. "Ethan! You're here!"

Xander ran straight into his arms. "Uncle Ethan!"

I stared at the man in front of me.

It was my own brother, Ethan Xavier.

Behind him stood my mother, Diane Xavier, concern written all over her face. She took Jasmine's hand, her voice full of sympathy.

"Jasmine, you have to be careful with this baby. We can't have something go wrong again like last time."

My vision went black around the edges.

They knew.

They all knew Xander wasn't dead.

They knew how much I'd suffered for the past two years. Every day, I'd gone to the cemetery and cried over an empty grave, kneeling at his headstone until my knees were bruised and bloody. Night after night, I'd swallowed sleeping pills just to get a few hours of rest.

I'd lost count of how many times I'd thought about killing myself to pay for his death.

They'd stood by for two years while I lost my mind with grief, watching me suffer without a single one of them telling me the truth.

Tears blurred my vision as I took a deep breath and marched straight up to them. "Jasmine Shaw!"

She turned toward me with the remnants of a smile still on her face. Before she could react, I slapped her hard across the cheek.

Jasmine screamed and staggered backward. Yuri and Ethan immediately moved to protect her.

My mother spun around and slapped me across the face.

"What kind of lunatic are you?"

Then she got a good look at me and froze.

"Quinn... What are you doing here?"

My cheek slowly swelled, burning where she'd struck me.

I stared at her coldly. "Why? Did I interrupt your family celebration?"

Xander flinched and desperately tried to hide behind Jasmine.

I took a deep breath and looked at him.

"Xander Stone, you don't have to hide."

His little face went deathly pale, and when he spoke, he was already on the verge of tears.

"Mommy, I'm sorry."

Jasmine quickly pulled him behind her. "Ms. Xavier, this is all my fault. Please don't blame Xander. He's still little. He doesn't understand any of this."

Tear tracks still glistened on her cheeks, making her look even more fragile and pitiful.

Yuri stepped in front of her.

"Quinn, don't blame her. Whatever happened, I'm the one responsible."

I stared at him and started to laugh.

But as I laughed, tears came pouring down my face.

"Yuri Stone, I want a divorce."