vff-AT MY STEPSISTER’S 500-GUEST WEDDING, THE SAME FAMILY WHO THREW ME OUT AT SIXTEEN LET ME STAND IN THE BACK OF THE BALLROOM LIKE I WASN’T EVEN BLOOD

question didn’t just silence the room. It changed it.

Bianca’s face moved first, irritation twisting into confusion as she turned toward the sound. I turned more slowly, already knowing that whatever happened next would divide the night cleanly into before and after.

Julian Mercer—her fiancé, or perhaps no longer her fiancé even then—was standing three continue reading …