Married To My Bully's Father

iron pressed between her sketchbook and her apron from the diner. She didn't even realize sh

histling. Just the rustle of cheap blinds against the breeze

table the one with the chipped corners and a ring stain from the time her father spilled soup but la

felt so

to the table, her hands sha

t between Dominic Rhys Gray

ly, like it didn't belong to her anymore. Like she'

as clean. No emo

ate of legal registration. Re

on for social, familial, an

hly allowance. Healthcare

mation, unless mut

ett b

lled out so ne

age. Her vision swam slig

restrictions. She couldn't post about the arrangement, couldn't leak the contract, couldn't dis

red twelve times be

she didn't know she was holding. She

sn't a

as pap

was dying. Sl

was the first thing that had

ntly. It roared inside he

. You're not a d

not f

d her fingertip

tion. Not a woman, not a daughter, not a human bei

pa

t she alr

id bills, the visits to hospitals with empty hands wasn'

d. Bonier than ever. How he hadn't opened his eyes in over a

on her knuckle a

anted for her. This wasn't wh

s the only

medication. No sense of digni

and held it to her che

wasn't

a y

itted teeth. A year of playing pretend in someone

vive a year,

d at the door,

ett j

. Levy from across the hall, and she always knocked tw

er still in her hand, and

ed and expressionless, holding a sealed white en

n cracked the door

e?" he asked,

es

lope. "Mr. Grayson wan

, he turned and walked o

heart pounding, and

k credit card with her n

, a note in cr

ations until signatures are complete. Us

at the card. It

g in her palm. Not h

purse was still half-zipped, the hospit

time in a long t

actually

e card on the table

c Grayson anywhere near her life, let alone at the center of i

ay

way th

be, was even

n and opened the

't look so c

ed like