Home / She Stole the Life I Was Escaping / Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

All Chapters of She Stole the Life I Was Escaping: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

The smell of toasted cheese drifted upstairs with an old song from the radio. I pulled on a cardigan and went down, nearly colliding with a woman carrying a cast-iron pan.Lucia, Mara’s mother, nudged spools of thread aside with her elbow. “Morning. Burned the sourdough a little. Pick whichever half you want.” A bowl of tomato soup sat beside it, the rim chipped. “Not in the mood? There’s turkey in the fridge. I can make something else.”Nobody in the Falcone house had ever asked what I wanted to eat. Depending on the day’s photo schedule, Mother had the kitchen purée my meals so chewing wouldn’t trigger my jaw pain. She couldn’t risk me losing my composure at dinner.I tasted the soup. It stung my tongue, but nothing stabbed from my ear to my gums. Tears splashed into the bowl.Lucia put the pan down. “Honey, are those assholes from last night messaging you again? I’ll get your dad. We’re going to the police.”I caught her apron and shook my head. “I just… really like it, Mom.”She gl

Chapter 2

That afternoon, Lucia took me to a community rehabilitation center. Dr. Walker checked my chart and asked me to raise my left arm. “The burn scars are restricting movement. You never finished physical therapy. Still using those mystery peeling creams?”I remembered the unmarked jars in the bathroom and shook my head. Mara had spent every cent chasing a different face, first on those creams, then on a witch.“Stop using them. We’ll work on your range of motion and the skin that keeps breaking open. The scars won’t disappear, but you don’t have to keep hurting like this.”My old doctors discussed symmetry. This one asked whether I could find a comfortable position to sleep.On the drive home, I spotted an advertisement for the Winter Benefit. In eight weeks, the Falcones and Morettis would announce their redevelopment project—and my wedding date. Father ran the dockside businesses nobody dared ask about. Adrian’s family controlled warehousing and security. The marriage would give their p

Chapter 3

The first time I finished my shoulder exercises alone, I barely had the strength to unzip my jacket. When the therapist helped, I apologized. “I’ll try again.”She steadied my hand. “We’re done today. You don’t earn extra credit for hurting yourself.”Mother had taught me to dig my nails into my palms when the pain started. A Falcone woman never grimaced while guests were present.In the changing-room mirror, scars crossed my neck and my left shoulder still drew inward. I buttoned my shirt without turning up the collar. “Better than yesterday.”Opening paint jars and washing my hair still hurt, but I managed a whole line of stitching on a leather sample. Thomas hung the crooked strip behind the register. He said you kept the first thing you made.On day nine, a photograph of me appeared in the shop’s client group chat. I was wearing coveralls and a shoulder brace, carrying leather samples one-handed. The low angle made my scars fill the frame.[Brennan’s girl is learning to act human?]

Chapter 4

I stopped taking Mara’s video calls. Mornings meant collecting supplies, afternoons were for therapy, and evenings went to the appointment book. I also read Lucia’s hotel contracts and challenged the worst liability clauses.“We might actually make money on this one.” She showed Thomas the revised agreement as if I’d won a prize.The scars were gradually fading. I changed the stiff collars that rubbed them raw and cut my hair short enough to clear the brace. Six weeks in, I could put it up myself. Thomas abandoned his spray gun to tell Lucia, who closed early and took us out to celebrate. “My girl doesn’t need me to do her hair anymore.”I’d once finished a fundraising speech for two hundred donors, only for Mother to complain that my raised eyebrow hadn’t looked humble enough.That evening, a silver-embossed invitation arrived. Benefit donors were voting for an ordinary family’s representative to give the opening address. Someone had nominated me.[She’s got my vote. We donated enough

Chapter 5

Adrian looked up from the stage, but I was watching Mara. She was smiling for a photographer, two fingers pressed beneath her ear. I knew that gesture. When her smile began to tremble, Mother caught the back of her neck and leaned close.“Keep smiling, Vivian. They’re filming.”The man nearest the doors was still smirking when I walked past him. Then his smile vanished.Conversations faltered across the ballroom. One by one, heads turned. The people who had spent years looking at my face with pity or disgust now stared as if they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing.I’d pinned my copper hair up loosely, leaving my pale gray-green eyes unobstructed. My neck was smooth, my skin flawless. My gown traced my shoulders, and my left arm rested naturally at my side. My posture was flawless, more poised and graceful than any debutante in the room.A glass paused halfway to someone's lips. Someone whispered my name. Others simply stared, unable to look away.Adrian’s fingers stopped aga

Chapter 6

After I explained the swap, Luca said, “I’ll check the accounts, and I’ll check your story. But whoever you are, you had every right to leave that corridor.”I hadn’t expected him to take my word for it. I could identify Father’s private annotations and explain how the contracts matched the transactions. Until he verified them, he didn’t have to vouch for who I was.Mara burst in and demanded to speak to me alone. Luca waited for my nod before stepping outside. She shut the door, her eyes fixed on my dress before darting to my neck.“How did you get rid of the scars?”“Lucia helped me.”“She’s my mother!” Mara flung an empty pill bottle onto the table. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been living with? I have to consult a makeup artist before I can even smile. They check the windows every night before bed. I can’t go anywhere without bodyguards. And your mother says this face isn't mine to ruin!”“That was your choice.”Adrian’s voice came through the door. “Darling, the photographer’s

Chapter 7

The next morning, the shop received cancellation notices. They weren’t for the contract promised at the benefit. Hotels that had used the Brennans for ten years were pulling their orders together.While Lucia worked out how long they could stay afloat, I called Luca for an update on the audit.“The first batch of documents is already out,” he said. “Your father knows the accounts are under review. He’s getting desperate faster than we expected.”“I need to keep my family safe.” Lucia heard me and didn’t correct my choice of words.We moved into a safe house that afternoon. Then Mara sent Lucia a copy of the cancellation notice, demanding she persuade me to switch.[Make her give me my body back, and you won’t lose the work. Adrian can fix this. He listens to me.]Lucia called her. “Is this what you want, too?”“Mom, it doesn’t matter whose idea it was. I just want to come home.”“Then come home. We’ll pick you up.”“You know what I mean!” Mara’s voice climbed. “She’s using my body, sle

Chapter 8

The signing was at the Morettis’ waterfront club. Reporters waited outside for engagement photographs. Inside, financial advisers, lawyers, and business partners sat around a long table. Luca had circulated the verified records. Nobody was pretending this was just a marriage agreement anymore.Father’s expression hardened when I entered. “Miss Brennan. You don’t belong here.”“I’m a witness.” I quoted his private annotations and the new name used to disguise one of the contracts. He stopped trying to have me removed.Mara stood beside Mother in a dress that covered her from the throat down. Concealer was caked near her ears, and her hands were clasped over her stomach.Adrian pushed the signature page toward her. “Let’s finish our business first.”“I want my own lawyer.”“Your lawyers are right here.”“You pay them.”Celeste gripped Mara’s elbow. “Don’t start. Do you know what your father put into arranging this marriage?”Mara flinched at the touch. “I’m not signing. I don’t want to m

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