When Revenge Kills, Love Prevails

verything and moved to a small, nameless town a hundred miles away. I found a tiny, one-room apartment

r. To pay the rent, I took a job as a night-shift cleaner at a local research facility. I would mop the floors and empty the trash cans in the lab

ash. On the cover were Scarlett and Liam Hayes, smiling for the cameras at some charity gala

was touching him. When she looked at me with that strange, possessive glimmer in her eyes, she was seeing him. I was a replacement, a substitute, a ghost she used to pretend she had the one

he trash with force. I would not think about the

wasn't done

nown number, but I answered it anyway, thinkin

a gruff, famil

was Mr. Hayes Sr., S

said ca

id, his tone commanding. "You disappea

er died," I said, my voice flat.

s... unstable. She's been worse since you left. You were a good influence.

h part of me felt a flicker of obligation. The old man had, at one point, saved my mother's life, even if i

coming,

that would solve all my immediate problems. "A fee for your time.

still felt cheap and out of place as I walked up the long driveway to the Haye

ll her attention, all her energy, was focused on him. She laughed too loudly at his jokes, touched his arm constantly, her eyes shining with a desperate, obsessive light. Liam

sharp, calculating eyes. He watched Scarlett's fawning behavior and Lia

re cleared, he cleared his t

s voice booming in the quiet room. "Scarlett's

look of pure hatre

ntinued, his gaze falling on me. "And for a time, it did. I

blank with confusion. W

ddaughter. "You and Ethan will be marrie

nged sound. "Married? To him?" She pointed a finger at me, her face a mask of contempt. "Gr

the table just stared at their plates, refusing to get involved. This