Eight Years of Lies

ry video call wit

, early thirties, with kind ey

T-cell process, the

eks, a flicker of genuin

hen I came to Boston for the next round

l coffee shop near Massachusetts

en warmer

finally meet

le was

chedule when a familiar, chilling

l, what ha

ll

woman, both drippin

he even know I was in Boston? Or

m me to Bella, sensi

e yet so much colder, raked ove

run off to, Ava? Meetin

end sni

her voice a venomous whisper meant only

about you? The essays, the professor? All his idea. Bril

ght. Liam? He

to stop them.

d in a smirk. "So he could swoop in, be your knight in shining armor

orld

st in Liam, his "heroism

ated seduction, a t

e way you worshipped him. It was patheti

ed ab

e, the one I' d once cherished, now a symbol of my foolis

castoff. He found it in my charity pile. Said i

ity

uck me with p

erwhelming, lanced

eaching for

asped, "I... I d

e instantly, his

you out of

, then gently guided me out of the ca

rd Bella' s light

a flicker of something

s a sliver of jealou

oject" had drag

to be focused

cupied a space in his t

years ago, before A

needing to secure h

versal attempt, a discreet procedur

once, snooped. He' d

was successful. He ne

he was fertile, that her inabili

oubt had always ling

' s resemblance wasn' t just a

t his own potency and Ava was a mor

am was perfect. He wouldn' t li

, terrifying trip to Boston, I k

I got back to the apartment,

u, Ava? Your p

, my voice weak. The encounter

ter him, bu

ething vague about hormonal imbalances m

kitchen counter w

it that

Ava?" His voice was tigh

id it' s just tempor

ckles white. "Temporarily ina

rched mine,

manipulations, Bella

d anger cut th

"Just like those rumors you started about me at N

pale, then flu

you talk

. About the essays, the p

with words, but

s, his fingers bi

hat else did that

You' re not supposed

ugh me. My hea

fake report, about my su

at his deception

violent and sudd

ds the bathroom, blood, coppery

lapsing against it as I

uch

n the door. "Ava! O

e and trembling, he saw the

replaced by a col

his voice devoid of emoti

concerned. He s

ruined a va

red into a mill

I knew what

asn' t just about

ut complet

or, and called the social worker

Completely. Can you help me arrange i

g my

esperate,

y way out of Liam'