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How had this happened? How had I let this happen?

My breath cah dozens oflike a knife in

But I’d believed them I had believed all of it

When Mason had found me in the bathroos had shifted between us

And they had

Just not in the way I thought

I had thought the battle was over, but all he’d done was change strategies Instead of outright cruelty, they’d used kindness to disarm me, and when they’d found ain and again

The dares The drinking The parties

Even my birthday

All designed to help theainst me, to paint a picture that told the story they wanted the world to see

That I was trash

A whore

A disgrace to my family name

Worse than my mother

And the broken trust? My broken fucking heart? That was just a side benefit, like Mason had said One more way for them to hurt me Maybe they hadn’t even expected that part