Chapter 2
To my surprise, it was only my imagination.
I turned and walked away.
As seniors, the school no longer provided housing, so Caius and I rented a small place together. But tonight, I couldn’t bring myself to return.
Just as I stepped out of the bar where I worked, my phone buzzed. Caius’ frantic voice burst through.
“Serene! Come quick! I’m in the back alley of Lost bar. Something’s happened-hurry!”
I ran there, heart pounding.
Under the dim streetlight, several tattooed men boxed Caius in. Elowen cowered behind him, tears streaking down her cheeks.
“I…I’ll pay you back! Just give me a few more days!” she stammered. “I only borrowed money to buy clothes for an interview. I just want a good job! It’s only five thousand dollars! How can you threaten to publish my photos over that?”
The leader shoved Caius aside with a sneer.
“Enough. Money now, or you come with us. Choose.”
Then Caius spotted me. He lunged forward, ripped the backpack off my shoulder, and yanked out my bank card-the one holding my scholarship and the wages I had bled for.
“Here’s thirty thousand! Take it and go!” he barked, thrusting it at them.
Then he turned to me, eyes blazing.
“Password. Now.”
My chest caved in. To him, I wasn’t a person in that moment-only a walking bank code.
Grinding my teeth, I gave it.
The men counted, smirked, and vanished. Relief washed over Caius’ face. But he didn’t look at me. Instead, he turned at once to Elowen, voice gentle.
“Elowen, it’s okay now. Don’t cry. I’m here.”
She collapsed into his arms, sobbing harder.
I clenched my fists. My voice trembled, but I forced it steady.
“Caius, you gave them everything. How am I supposed to live?”
He stiffened, irritation flashing across his face.
“Serene! Your sister was almost dragged away by those animals. And you care about money? Do you even have a conscience?”
Conscience.
I almost laughed,
“If I had no conscience, I wouldn’t have given you the password,” I said coldly. “Now I have nothing-not even food or bus fare. And I’m supposed to survive on what? Air?”
His expression twisted. He blurted, then cut himself short:
2/2 18.2%
3:34 pm pppp.
“This scholarship… it should have-”
But I understood instantly.
To him, this honor, this money, was never mine. It had always belonged to Elowen. He hadn’t snatched it in desperation. He’d taken it because he believed it was hers by right.
My lips curled in a bitter smile.
“Should have been Elowen’s? She failed a course and delayed graduation. How does that make her worthy of ‘outstanding graduate’?”
Caius’ temper exploded.
“Don’t you dare! It’s because of you! You tried to kill yourself! Elowen was worried sick, distracted, sleepless. Of course her grades suffered-it’s your fault!”
His words struck like a sledgehammer.
Suicide?
No.
My parents beat me with belts, tried to force me out of school, tried to sell me to a man old enough to be my grandfather-his third wife.
When I refused, they tricked me home, drugged my drink, and almost delivered me into his bed.
3:34 pm P Ppp.
