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There was just no fucking way The Princes likingme? The four of the off it like fucking vampires There was no way those sweet, innocent, chubby-cheeked kids were my tormentors

Philip cleared his throat, shifting besideat the picture almost as intently as I had been, his face drawn

“This was just before things went… bad It was a few years after they all graduated college, and they’d just started a business together They had very high hopes for it”

I sank back onto my heels, stunned Each new piece of information rocked me, and I felt like my world had been flipped on its head and shaken hard The ie in the picture before me didn’t match any version of reality I knew

“What happened, Grandpa?” I whispered “She looks so happy here How did she go fro back? Never eventhis place to me?”

Philip frowned, releasing a heavy breath “She changed Everything changed She becarandmother wouldn’t abide by it, and that onlyin ways that…” He trailed off, wiping a hand over his forehead, where a sheen of sweat glistened “Never e any of it I need to go lie down It’s best if you go back to your room until dinner”

I wanted to ask him more, to press for more details, but the pallor of his face scared me He looked sick I reached out a hand but pulled it back quickly

“Do you need help getting to your room?” I murmured

“No, thank you,” he said stiffly “I’m not that old yet”

He retreated back down the hallway, his spine straight, reaching out to the wall once to steady hio and then fled back toaround in my brain

What the actual fucking fuck?

I stared out ether everything I’d learned into some kind of cohesive whole

I had been born in Roseland

My mom had never told me that, had never even mentioned this place as far as I could reht the two of them met in Sand Valley, but they must’ve met here if I was born before she left California

Was that what’d driven her and randparents apart? The fact that she’d ?