Chapter 5
“Berenice! What did you post? Delete it now!” His voice crackled with anger. “Where the
hell are you? Come back and apologize to Leigh!”
I didn’t even bother responding. I just powered off my phone.
It almost made me laugh. H
to my texts before.
never replied
I used to think it was because he was just too busy.
Turns out, he’d seen everything–I just wasn’t worth responding to.
My mom, who I hadn’t seen in years, came to pick me up.
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She was wearing a red dress, looking as stunning as ever, though I could tell time had left its mark on her.
She pulled me into a tight hug and said, “Oh, sweetie, you’ve been through so much.”
Despite having run away years ago, I’d kept in touch with her.
She knew all about the mess with Harvey and had been warning me for ages that it wouldn’t
dwell.
I didn’t listen back then, but I was listening
now.
On the drive home, Mom updated me on all the changes around the house.
I already knew most of it, but I listened
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intently anyway.
The moment I turned my phone back on, it went wild with notifications.
I didn’t respond to a single one. I just set it to silent.
“Spam calls,” I told Mom when she raised an eyebrow.
She seemed to understand but said nothing.
With the wedding coming up, things were hectic.
I followed her to try on wedding dresses.
When I saw myself in the mirror, I barely recognized the person staring back.
Mom wiped away a tear and said, “Don’t
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worry, sweetie. Torin’s a good guy.”
I nodded. Honestly, I didn’t care much. I’d been through worse.
What I didn’t expect was Torin showing up.
Seeing him in person, after only seeing his photos, felt a little surreal.
He looked at me and smiled. “You look beautiful.”
His cold exterior softened just a little with that smile.
“Thanks.” I lowered my gaze, tugging at my dress, feeling a little self–conscious.
Luckily, Mom quickly intervened, smoothing things over.
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“Well, since Torin’s here, why don’t we take a photo together as a keepsake?”
Torin glanced at me for approval, and I nodded.
Mom, clearly thrilled, eagerly snapped a picture of us.
She loved blogging on Instagram, and she couldn’t wait to post the photos with a caption: [My very beautiful daughter!]
I didn’t expect her little post to blow up.
Before I knew it, hashtags were trending.
Mom was beyond excited, sending me screenshots of all the well–wishes in the
comments.
[Let the asshole see this! He never deserved
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you!]
Honestly, I didn’t care anymore.
He’d never loved me. How could he hurt me?
But then, I didn’t expect him to send me a
message.
I’d already blocked him on my main account, but he found my alternate one.
He sent me the picture of Torin and me together.
Then, he called.
