Chapter 1
A message popped up from Mom: [Claire, take these next few days to say goodbye to your friends.]
[This time, once you’re here, I’m not letting you go again.)
Goodbye?
All I could think of was my father, my brother, and Julian–the three people who made it painfully clear how replaceable I was
Three days would be more than enough.
I locked my phone and stood on the corner of the street for a long while
It was already late autumn up north, and the wind cut through my coat like knives. Dead leaves danced across the pavement. The longer I stood there, the more my hands and feet went numb from the cold.
Eventually, I caved and pulled out my phone again.
Icalled my dad.
No matter what had happened, we were still connected by blood. I figured maybe I should say goodbye, just oner. Property
The call didn’t even ring twice before he hung up.
I tried again.
This
time, it went straight to voicemail. He’d shut off his phone.
Swallowing the ache rising in my throat, I braced myself and dialed Logan instead.
The line rang and rang.. until finally, like I was some annoying telemarketer be had no choice but to answer, he picked up.
“What do you want? You do realize Harper was just onstage performing, right?” he snapped. “You almost ruined her show.”
Even though I’d long accepted that Logan had picked a side–and it wasn’t mine–his words still cur deep.
I forced myself to speak calmly, gently. “Logan, it’s been a while. I was wondering if maybe we could grab dinner tonight?”
He let out a bitter, sarcastic laugh.
Afraid he’d say something worse, I rushed out, “It’s just… Harper’s favorite seafood place just finished renovations. I thought maybe we could go together?”
Harper. The girl my dad brought home from foster care. The one who replaced me in every corner of my life.
Never–not once had I humbled myself like this for her.
But Logan sneered at my attempt like it was a dirty trick.
“Claire, what the hell are you plotting now? Last time, Harper nearly missed her performance because of you. What is it this time? Planning to polson her?”
It felt like someone took a blade to my chest and twisted it.
The brother who once promised to believe in me no matter what… was gone.
All I could manage was a dry whisper. “No. I just… I just wanted to see you guys.”
“Well, I don’t want to see you-
His voice was abruptly interrupted by that all–too–familiar soft, delicate tone.
“Logan, don’t talk to Claire like that,” Harper said sweetly from the other end. “You’ll hurt her feelings.”
“It’s been so long since we all had dinner together. Let’s do it,” she continued, her voice laced with that fake innocence everyone
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seemed to eat up. “But I’m tired tonight… I don’t want to go out.
Let’s eat at home instead.
“I’m craving Cajun crab… but the housekeeper’s off today. Claire, would you mind making it?”
“Of course,” I answered instantly. “I’ll head home and start cooking.”
Before they could change their minds, I hung up
Only after the call ended did I remember…
I was allergic to shellfish.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Not, tonight.
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