CONTRACTED TO HATE

y's

est desire in my heart was still to stab my husband with a tiny, silver salad fork.

lanning vengeance plots against since our knees were still scuffed from the playground. The worst part? My life was built on the foundation of a bu

us wasn't "romantic tension"; it was a high-voltage short circuit, a jagged wire humming between two poles. Yo

e obvious questi

ting expectations. I was the good, obedient daughter, raised on the ancient, dusty wisdom that children should

ssive" part? That's where I filed for div

anas, their fingers dipped into the pockets of every lucrative continent. They were famo

r's garden club had expectations that felt like invisible leashes. The short version? When I was

he was my nemes

his sense of aesthetic superiority. In middle school, his favorite pastime was yanking off my hoodie a

se I later discovered via my mother's spa gossip that Josh

a, meet sw

chool discovered the gilded scandal. I had to change schools after the White family went full nuclear and my dad lost a lucrative deal,

: it was only

greeted by Josh. Freaking. White. The parents dropped the bomb like a heavy curtain: a business pact. We were the corporate sea

here, but everything else had leveled up. Josh knew I was beautiful. I knew I was beautiful. It

ist of flaws for. I became the good girl again, groomed by Christian nannies for wifely submission and by my parents for ruthless domin

ecrets in a locked drawer. We both lived separately until the parents decided it was time t

cus on the flower arrangement behind him just to keep the champagne from comi

_____________

ess a home and more a divided map. North Wing: him, his lovers, and his secrets. West Wing: me, my lovers, and

s fine until

utes, dear." Mother's voice, calm, d

ers, my current weekend distraction. He grabbed his tailored jacket, delivered a hasty goodbye kiss, an

and a class so cold the air temper

on the good-girl smile that felt lik

y to: You're about to be miserable. We sat by the pool,

, sipping her chilled juice. Ah, "dear", her f

dangerously calm. "As the heir to a family like ours, you sh

the

till t

x was decades deep,

egnancy at your father's b

orld tilting. "E

will be here in two weeks to test

di

ything

Mot

added, switching to that sickeningly pious tone. "I understand you and Joshua never got along, but

re clauses in a contract. Then, without mi

how's sex w

Are you

hat people have sex; that's how babies are co

tile and drown myself in the pool. She stared

hed, standing up with the authority of a judge delivering a life sen

exact moment my perfect, separate l