I stood in the living room, stunned. I should have been stunned because of what Jonathan told me about Gregory being in New York City and actively looking for me. But I wasn’t stunned about that. I was stunned because I wanted Jonathan to kiss me, I was certain that he was going to, and he walked away.I couldn’t figure anything out. Deep down, I had hoped that Jonathan and I could get back together. While Jonathan had tried to sleep with others to move on past me, I had not been with anyone since I had left. Most of the time I wasn’t even thinking about sexual gratification. My mind would move to that when I would think about Jonathan, but outside of seeking out my own release, I was too scared running to even think about having a one-night stand, let alone trying to start a relationship.Maybe I was stupid to think that Jonathan would even want to be with me again. I must have read things wrong, because when he walked away, I had a clear answer.

I think I liked it better when I just thought that my dad was trying to kill me. Because all of this information about my mom’s family and the mafia was entirely too much for me to process. It made absolutely no sense. It confused me even more than trying to understand why I had been running over the last six years. It was as if I was stuck in a bad 80’s mafia movie.I had been in my room thinking for an hour and I was finally getting around to my hair. I got lost while trying to read the instructions and ended up just sitting for an hour. The first round of color remover was processing on my head. I had purchased a dark blonde hair color in case the color remover didn’t remove as much as I wanted it to, and it was splotchy. Because of how often I was touching up my hair color, I had switched to using a demi-permanent hair color quite a while ago, mostly because it could be easier to change the color faster if I needed to. I wasn’t confident that my ha

“Can we please talk about something else?” I groaned as Jake went on to another story about me. “I think that the last story about me running naked through the high school is enough.” I stated, going to grab myself another beer from the fridge. “Isn’t this what families do? Tell embarrassing stories about each other in front of their significant others?” Jake laughed, taking the beer I handed him. “You should have heard the stories Amalia’s parents told me. Skinny dipping in the neighbor’s pool was one of my favorites!” “Ugh. That was so embarrassing. Ok, I am with Jonathan. Enough with the stories!” Amalia chimed in. I liked that she was on my side. I liked how she grounded Jake. He had let my dad control him for so long, that it was good to see that Jake was able to get to this place. I was glad that this was my chance with Tilly to do the same. I smiled over at her. She was talking with Emma and William, who had just come back from putting Cassie down for

I was annoyed. I didn’t want to sit here and listen to Gregory’s long-winded story. I wanted to know the truth and I wanted it now. I stood up, causing the asshole I had bitten to stand up. I rolled my eyes at him and turned my attention back to Gregory. “Look, I already know that you aren’t my father.” His eyes widened slightly at my statement. His response surprised me, and I wasn’t sure if I had revealed my knowledge of that tidbit of information too quickly. I held my breath, waiting for him to respond. He took a beer from the fridge and then turned back towards me as he opened it. “Well, one less thing I have to tell you, I guess.” He shrugged and walked back towards me.  It seemed like it was way too early to be drinking beer, but I doubted that he cared.“Why did you and mom say you were my father when you weren’t? Why have my birth certificate changed?” I aske

TillyI stumbled away from the blast, the ringing in my ears not stopping. In the chaos of the blast, I was able to run away from those around me. I didn’t know where I was going, but I kept running towards the back of the warehouse. There wasn’t much that could be used for cover, but at this point, I didn’t care. I just wanted to get as far away from Gregory and those other men as I possibly could.My heart was pounding and my ears were still ringing as I paused for a moment to try to catch my breath. I could barely hear anything around me. The blast was not so close that I was impacted by the flying debris from it, but I was close enough that my hearing had been impacted. As I looked back towards the area from which I had just fled, I was surprised by what I saw.The men who had been standing in front of me, waiting to “accept” me had taken up a position behind a short wall that ran perpendicular to the door. The door fro