All Chapters of The Stolen Crown of St. Jude’s: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The scholarship was my only way out of the mud.Every time I looked at my hands, I saw the dry skin from helping Mum fry puff-puff under the hot sun. I saw the way her back bent a little lower every year. St. Jude’s Academy was supposed to be my ticket to a life where we didn’t have to worry about the next meal.That was why I was in the school library at 11:00 p.m. while the other students were at a secret party."Just ten more pages," I whispered to myself.The library was silent, smelling of old paper and expensive wax. I needed an A+. If my grades slipped even an inch, the board would snatch my scholarship away and hand it to some rich kid who didn't even know what it meant to be hungry.A heavy thud echoed from the back of the room.My heart jumped. I wasn't supposed to be here this late. If the headmaster caught me, I was dead. I quickly blew out my small lamp and ducked behind a shelf of thick books.Clink. Clink.That wasn't a teacher. It sounded like metal hitting metal.I cr

The world felt like it was spinning. I stared at the body of the assistant, his eyes open and empty. The blood pooling around my scholarship card was so red it looked fake. But the metallic smell in the air was very real."I didn't do this," I whispered, backing away until my shoulders hit the cold stone wall. "Maxwell, I was with you the whole time. You know I didn't do this!"Maxwell didn’t look at me. He was staring at the knife. "It doesn't matter what I know, Loveth. Victoria has the video of us in the vault. And now, the police will find your ID on a dead man. At St. Jude’s, the rich get lawyers. The poor get life sentences.""We have to go back," I said, my voice rising in panic. "We have to tell them!""Go back to what?" Maxwell snapped, finally looking at me. His eyes were dark and desperate. "The guards are already upstairs. If you walk out now, you're a murderer caught at the scene. Victoria planned this perfectly. She didn't just want the ring. She wanted to erase anyone w

My head felt like it was filled with broken glass. I tried to open my eyes, but the light was too bright. My neck throbbed where the needle had gone in.I wasn't in the Gala tent anymore. I wasn't in the mud. I was lying on a cold, metal table."She’s awake," a voice said. It was cold and mechanical.I blinked, my vision finally clearing. I wasn't in a hospital. I was in a room filled with computer screens. One wall was made entirely of glass. On the other side of that glass, I saw my father.He wasn't the powerful man from the stage anymore. He was strapped to a chair, his face bruised. Victoria Hale sat in a chair next to him, her hands tied behind her back. She looked terrified, her perfect dress torn and covered in soot from the chandelier crash."Dad?" I tried to sit up, but leather straps held my wrists to the table. "Victoria?""They can’t hear you, Loveth," the voice came from a speaker in the ceiling.I looked around the room. A man stepped out of the shadows. He wasn't weari