Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

MarloI sat on the edge of the large bed for hours, staring at the black screen of my hidden burner phone.He’s locking you in to keep you from finding what he buried under the floorboards.My fingernails were chipped and bleeding. I had spent the first half of the night dragging my hands over every inch of the hardwood floor in that bedroom, desperately searching for a loose plank, a hidden latch, anything. I found nothing. The text message was a ghost. A mind game meant to make me lose my grip on reality.Then, at exactly 2:15 AM, a heavy, electronic clack echoed through the quiet room.I jumped, my heart leaping into my throat. I stared at the door. The red light on the electronic deadbolt had turned green. The lock was open.I didn't know if Jarrah had unlocked it from his security panel, or if the system had glitched, but I didn't care. I needed to get out of that room before the walls completely crushed me. I slipped my phone back into my boot and pulled the door open.The hallw

MarloThe door of the science building restroom clicked shut, cutting off the low murmur of students out in the hallway.I leaned over the sink, turning the cold tap on full blast. I cupped my hands under the icy stream and splashed water onto my face, desperate to wash away the burning exhaustion behind my eyes. Water dripped from my chin into the drain. My skin was hot, my stomach twisting into tighter knots with every second that passed.Cal was standing right outside the restroom door. A bruised, bloodied enforcer acting as my personal bodyguard. The thought alone made my hands tremble against the wet sink.“You better ask Tamsin who paid her tuition.”Cal’s raspy whisper echoed in my mind like a disease. Tamsin Sterling the ice queen of Monash University, the girl who had spent three years making my life a living hell was tied to my family's money. Everyone was tied to it. Everyone had taken a bite out of my dead parents’ grave.I grabbed a paper towel and dried my face, looking

MarloPour this in his drink tonight.Aunt Siobhan’s neat, cursive handwriting stared back at me from the small scrap of yellow paper. The same neat handwriting that used to sign my permission slips in high school. The same hand that made me hot tea when I had a fever.My stomach churned violently. I dropped the paper onto the desk as if it had burned my skin."No," I whispered to the empty room. "No, there’s a mistake. She’s scared. She’s being forced by someone else."My heart begged for it to be a mistake. It fought against the dark, ugly truth trying to break into my mind. Siobhan was my mother’s sister. She was the only family I had left in this world. She had held me while I cried over my parents' grave. She couldn't be a monster. She just couldn't.I dragged my hand over my face, my breath coming in short, panicked gasps.I pulled out my burner phone, my fingers flying across the keypad. I opened the saved photos of the encrypted letters I had found in Jarrah’s vault weeks ago

MarloThe sharp, muted pfft of the silenced round was instantly followed by the terrifying sound of glass disintegrating into a million tiny needles beside my ear.I didn't even have time to scream.A massive, heavy shadow smashed into me with full force. Jarrah vaulted the iron railing of the VIP cage, his powerful arms wrapping around my waist like steel bands. He dragged me down to the hard concrete floor, covering my body entirely with his own just as a second bullet buzzed through the air, burying itself into the stone wall right where my head had been a second ago.Thump. Concrete dust rained down over our hair and shoulders.The crowd below went completely wild. Screams echoed through the subterranean warehouse as people trampled over one another, scrambling frantically toward the narrow exit doors. The heavy bass of the arena music cut out, replaced by sheer, chaotic noise."I've got you," Jarrah rasped against my ear, his broad chest rising and falling violently against my ba

MarloThe smell of old coffee, damp carpet, and yellowing paper filled the cramped basement office of the university legal clinic.Rain lashed violently against the high, narrow window near the ceiling, the street lights flickering every few seconds as storm winds whipped through the campus. Outside, Cal was waiting in the hallway, his heavy shadow blocking the frosted glass door.Across the cluttered desk sat Mr. Henderson, the university’s lead legal aid counselor. He was a small, tired looking man with silver hair and wire-rimmed glasses resting on the tip of his nose. He adjusted a thick, red file folder in front of him, his knuckles pale as he smoothed down the edges."I called you in tonight because the system flagged your account during the automated midterm audit," Mr. Henderson said softly, his voice barely audible over the low hum of the fluorescent lights. "When your scholarship status was reviewed after Siobhan stopped signing as your guardian, the system had to pull the o