Novel & Cerita Sylvia Day Author

Now, Mom staggered into the place where I'd drawn my last breath, feeling her legs give out beneath her. She collapsed to her knees and pressed her hand over her mouth, spilling tears over the floor. Bewildered, I stared at her tear-stricken face. The smallest scratch on Leo could make her cry in distress, but this was the first time I'd ever seen her weep for me. Taking a deep breath, Dad calmly slipped on gloves and picked up the diary on the table with a blood-speckled cover. When he flipped it open, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Layla's POV On the morning of the fourth day, I finally opened my eyes. Light streamed through the window, and I realized—I could feel everything. Every herb, every plant across the entire territory. The evening primrose on the eastern slope had just sprouted new shoots. The blood-clot flowers in the western valley were in full bloom. Even the wolf-spirit grass buried deep underground, not yet broken through the soil, trembled faintly at the edge of my awareness.

People who knew us stepped forward to defend him, praising his patience with my supposed temper and his endless tolerance of my so-called flaws. Even my best friend, Yvonne Smith, went live on her social media. She told everyone I had once confided in her that if Cody didn't behave, I would throw our daughter out of the window to make him regret it for the rest of his life. I was paralyzed with disbelief, unable to defend myself against such betrayal. And the comments online only got worse. [If even her husband and best friend say she's like this, how could it not be true?] [She's pure evil. She killed her own daughter. Someone like her deserves to die!]

Completely disgusted, Pia Drew walked briskly going inside but Andrew held her hand tightly that he could feel her bones in his palm. "Remember everything you did in the library?" Andrew showed his dimpled left cheek. "Are artists supposed to be trained how to handle situations like that?" Pia Drew hardly pulled off his hand from her wrist. "Sunny, why do you hate me so much?" There was a sudden silence while their eyes met. That was the very first time Pia Drew heard him call her Sunny. "Do you expect all people to like you?" "No. That's why I want to get you to like me."

My words angered Gina, and she slapped me hard. She grabbed my throat and snarled, "Caitlyn, no one would care what I did to a loser like you! I pretended to faint on purpose just to show you your place in Levi's heart. You'll never beat me!" She added, "So what if you're the official Mrs. Robbins? Just wait. I'll make Levi betray you again!" She tightened her grip and continued with her insults, "This funeral will happen as planned, and as for your mother's ashes? I'll throw them into the sea like the latest trend, and no one will even know!"

Before Lily's surgery, the nurse slid the consent form across to me. I called my husband, Ethan Reid, eleven times. When the twelfth call finally connected, the first voice I heard was his first love, Claire Bennett, on the verge of tears: "Ethan, the zipper on my wedding dress is stuck. Don't leave yet." I looked at my daughter, white with pain in the hospital bed, and said, "Lily's waiting for you." Ethan was silent for two seconds before saying, "Just sign it. I'll get there later." Later, Lily studied the lone guardian's signature on the form and asked, "Mom, can I leave Dad off the school forms from now on?" I said she could. From that day on, she stopped leaving room for Ethan anywhere

On Christmas Day, my parents decided to add my sister Chloe's name to the family trust. As the lawyer prepared the documents, he glanced at me. "And this young lady? Should she be included as well?" My mother waved a hand dismissively. "No need. She's just a foster child." Ever since Chloe was brought back home, I—their biological daughter—had become the outsider. All because Chloe insisted she was the only daughter in the family. If anyone so much as mentioned that I was blood-related, she'd have a PTSD episode—screaming, crying, the whole breakdown. Eventually, everyone just accepted it: "The Haper family only has one real daughter. The other one's a foster kid." At first, I tried to

"Get over here and bring my stuff in. Then, get me an iced americano, pronto. It's so hot out here!" What ridiculous demands. I chuckled and hung up on him. Shawn paused, but his confidence continued to swell as he grinned. "She can't express herself well enough. She's just another petty woman. I'll make her grovel for half an hour." The other classmates were delighted. "She's a SAT top scorer, but she's that petty? You'd better keep her on a tight leash, Shawn." "How do you even train your girlfriend? Have you ever considered writing a book? I'll be your loyal customer!"

Eva chimed in. "Don't worry, sweetheart. We'll be together as a family soon!" Fred promised. "And that Aster woman is so mean! She hit Mommy's head and made her bleed," Eva continued. "Actually, Mommy and I knew Uncle Lionel's kids were dead—we just didn't tell him! During the earthquake, Mommy and I made a bet about whether Uncle Lionel would save me or his kids. If I won, Mommy promised me a pool party!" "And you won, you clever girl!"

I don't care. She fell silent as she had no defense against the words I'd slung at her. She bent and picked up the flowers. "I'll leave, but at least keep the flowers. I owe you this much." I chortled at her audacity. "You owe me more than your life's worth. The flowers are nothing compared to your debt." Zoe never showed up in my sight since that day. Rumors claimed she went to an enclosed cram school that had less than two days off every month. That was the end of what I knew.