The Girl Who Refused to Be Broken

The Girl Who Refused to Be Broken

Gavin

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My whole life was about getting out of this blue-collar town. Ivy League scholarships were my ticket, and I lived and breathed SAT prep. My best friend, Bree Van Doren, struggled with her studies, her family's hardware store failing. She always said I made it look so easy. Then Bree suggested a "study retreat" at her remote family cabin in the Adirondacks. After she handed me a bottle of water, that's the last thing I remembered before darkness. I woke up on a dirt floor, head pounding, in a filthy shack. This was no cabin; this was a nightmare. The Petersons, a rough, menacing family, treated me like an animal. Then Bree appeared, her face shockingly cold, flatly admitting she sold me to them. For a few hundred bucks and a beat-up snowmobile, my "best friend" had erased her academic competition. I was to "keep Cletus company." Sold. Like an object. For a snowmobile. Every Ivy League dream I had, reduced to ash. Panic clawed at my throat. How? Why? Even my own cousin, Jake, seeing me bruised and desperate, didn't recognize me. But a silent scream of "NO" echoed in my mind. I would not break. I was Sarah Miller, and my formidable grandparents, Eli and Agnes Miller, would find me. And when they did, Bree Van Doren would pay.

Introduction

My whole life was about getting out of this blue-collar town.

Ivy League scholarships were my ticket, and I lived and breathed SAT prep.

My best friend, Bree Van Doren, struggled with her studies, her family's hardware store failing.

She always said I made it look so easy.

Then Bree suggested a "study retreat" at her remote family cabin in the Adirondacks.

After she handed me a bottle of water, that's the last thing I remembered before darkness.

I woke up on a dirt floor, head pounding, in a filthy shack.

This was no cabin; this was a nightmare.

The Petersons, a rough, menacing family, treated me like an animal.

Then Bree appeared, her face shockingly cold, flatly admitting she sold me to them.

For a few hundred bucks and a beat-up snowmobile, my "best friend" had erased her academic competition.

I was to "keep Cletus company."

Sold. Like an object. For a snowmobile.

Every Ivy League dream I had, reduced to ash.

Panic clawed at my throat. How? Why?

Even my own cousin, Jake, seeing me bruised and desperate, didn't recognize me.

But a silent scream of "NO" echoed in my mind.

I would not break.

I was Sarah Miller, and my formidable grandparents, Eli and Agnes Miller, would find me.

And when they did, Bree Van Doren would pay.

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My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

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