Taking a deep breath, I shake my head and stand. Reaching for my phone, I don’t open the messages like he wants me to. Instead, I walk it to my bathroom and fill the bathtub. I watch as the water stills when I turn the faucet off and then I smile as the phone slips from my hand and drops into the crystal-clear water.
Tomorrow is the day I start living for me.
Or so I keep telling myself.
Chapter 2
August
My fingers tap on the table that my hands are cuffed to, and my leg bounces, unable to move or go anywhere unless I figure out a way to cut my fucking hands off. I wait for him to arrive—the only person left who has an ounce of faith in me, apart from my baby sister.
Why? Well, I’m still trying to work that out.
The loud noise doesn’t make me jump anymore as they open the doors behind me. His expensive shoes come into view, and I glance up to Noah, who offers me a smile as he takes a seat across from me. His eyes drop to my chained hands then he glances over to the guard.
“Undo his hands,” he snaps. “Now.”
The guard does as he asks, and my wrists are freed.
Noah flips through his paperwork and slides something across the table to me.
“This is your grandmother’s will.” I scrunch my face as I scan the document. “She left you the house,” Noah states.
My grandmother died over four years ago. Why am I only now hearing about this? “From the look on your face, it seems your last lawyer conveniently forgot to disclose any of this to you.”
He guessed right.
“My grandmother hated me,” I tell him. She was always telling me to get my act together and do something with my life, or I would turn out like my deadbeat mother.
Perhaps she was right.
“Yeah, well… it seems she loved you, regardless.”
“Paige?” I ask.
My little sister has a good father. He knew our mother was scum and took her away early, leaving me to clean up the mess my mother created. And my father? Well, I don’t even know who he is and couldn’t care less, either.
“She’s doing well. Your grandmother left her a car. Which I’m sure Paige has told you in her letters.”
Paige is almost sixteen, and in her letters, she’s told me how excited she is to start driving. She’s asked to visit me, but that’s not an option. This isn’t somewhere she should frequent. Not ever.
“I have some other news for you, August.” Noah closes the folder in front of him and leans back in his chair. His eyes flick to the guard, then back to me. “You’ll be released tomorrow. The judge approved your appeal.”
His words don’t register.
I don’t understand them.
I simply stare at him, as if he’s grown a second head.
Because that would never happen. I’m only six years into a long sentence and not once has any of my appeals even been heard.
Yet, here’s Noah, a man I hardly know, who has become my one and only friend, telling me I am finally going to be free.
I rub the stubble on my jaw and eye him. “You’re lying.”
“Do I seem like a man who lies, August?”
No. Noah has never lied to me. No matter how hard the truth may have been, he has always given it to me straight. “I had a cleaner go around to your grandmother’s today, seeing as no one has been living there for all this time.”
I can’t even come up with the words to thank him. So, all I do is nod my head.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to pick you up.” Noah stands, gathering his things. He strolls to the door, but I stay where I am, still in shock. “August…” he says my name, and I check over my shoulder, “… don’t fuck this up. They’ll be eager to throw you straight back in here the first chance they get.”
It’s more than obvious, and I know they’ll be looking for me to fuck up. The same way they easily threw me in here. Trash is what they said when they caught and tossed me into the back of the cop car.
“Noah,” I say. “I owe you one.”
“You owe me nothing,” he says, then continues on his way out the door.
I grip my hair.
Fuck.
Free.
I never thought this day would come.
Destined to end up in here, I was nothing more than a street thug. My mother always said so. So when it finally happened, I wasn’t all that surprised.
But getting out now, because of a man I hardly know who chose to fight for me?
It’s a fucking miracle.
Chapter 3
Rylee
It’s been two days, and I have managed to avoid Anderson. Not once have I seen nor heard from him. It helps that my phone is still lying at the bottom of my bathtub, never to work again.
Rhianna steps into my office, dressed in her work outfit, which consists of shorts and a shirt, and the apron she usually wears is wrapped around her small waist. Her long, dark hair is tied up on her head while mine is in a half-up, half-down ponytail. Her dark, almost black eyes, that mirror mine, stare at me.
Identical. In almost every way, physically.
Twins. With two uniquely different personalities.
Best friends. For all the right reasons.
My ride-or-die.
“Noah is celebrating tonight. I wanted to see if you would come.” My eyes go to the pile of paperwork in front of me. I use it as an excuse. Often. Especially to Anderson.
“I…” Rhianna shakes her head before I can even finish getting my first word out.
“Don’t forget I know you. Like, really know you. So don’t even try to use that shit in front of you as an excuse,” Rhianna says, her hands lifting and pulling her hair out of its bun as she watches me. “All you have time for now is Anderson and work. News flash…” she waves her hands around dramatically, “… I am way more important than both.”
I smirk at her words. Because they’re true. Oh so true.
“I can dress you,” she offers with a smile.
I shake my head. “It’s fine. I’ll head home soon and get changed.”
“I’ve been trying to call you. Why is your phone switched off?”
“I drowned it,” I reply with a smirk.
Her eyes go wide. “Should I ask?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Probably not. I have ordered a new one and should get it tomorrow. I’ll send you the number.” She stands, putting her bag over her shoulder and then across her body. “How’s Noah?” I ask. It’s her first real relationship. He’s older than us and an incredibly successful businessman.
A smile touches her lips at the mention of his name. “He’s good. Really good. I plan to marry that man.”
“I’m glad he makes you happy.”
She goes still at my words, ambles around my desk, and leans down. “You need to find someone who makes you happy, too. Clearly, Anderson is not that man.”
He isn’t, and I am well aware of that fact.
“I’m working on it,” I reply truthfully. And I am. All that’s been running through my head is how I plan to break it off with Anderson officially. Only it’s not just him I have to tell, it’s my parents too. They have already planned our massive wedding, and we aren’t even engaged.