Her skin was damp with sweat now, her pulse was wild beneath her jaw. Her fingers reached blindly for her phone on the floor, but it had slid too far out of reach. She didn't even know who she'd call.
Amara would be in class right now, and every other person who once mattered had betrayed her.
Her mother was dead. Her father was never in the picture. Landon had been her whole world, and he had played her like she was some random joke at a frat table.
A bet. She remembered it word for word.
"You actually pulled it off? The Cross kid really bagged Celeste?"
"Told you I could. Easiest five million I've ever made."
She squeezed her eyes shut so tight that they burned. The whispers before they sounded audible enough for her to detect the voices still played in her head.
Her chest stung now. It wasn't just panic now. Heartbreak and betrayal now involved, layered and fresh.
Everything he ever said replayed in her mind now like poison.
"I love you, Celeste."
