Jessie Kensington thought she had escaped her troubled past when she faked her death and started a new life as Violet Arrowood. But three years later, she finds herself at Vanguard University on a scholarship, trying to build the future she always d...
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We have been driving for an hour and I haven't said a word, neither has he.
But then he breaks the silence. "Where am I taking you?" Ty asks, as cool and casual as ever.
"...Back to where I grew up."
He slams on the brakes. My hands fly to the sides to brace myself, one to the door and one on Ty's shoulder as he veers off the road.
"What?!" Ty yells, and I snap my head towards him, catching my breath as the dirt from the side of the road clouds around us.
"What the hell—' I choke out.
"Are you fucking crazy?!" He cuts me off, his fiery blue eyes burn into me. "You said you faked your death to escape that place and the people in it!"
"Ty..." I try to swallow the shake in my voice, "I need you to drive, and I need you to drive now!" My throat tightens. "My friend's life is at stake. Please, just drive!"
There was an intense split second of silence so loud my ears began to ring, before he hisses through cleaned teeth. "I don't give a shit about your 'friend'. I give a shit about you!"
"Ty, I promise I'll explain everything. Just drive!" I beg.
He glares at me, giving me an "I don't like this" look, and with a frustrated grunt, the sound of the indicator fills the car as he manoeuvres back onto the highway.
"Talk." He warns. "Tell me why you had to fake your death. What did you do?"
I have spent countless nights rehearsing the words, imagining how each version of how I would tell him would unfold. But no matter how much I prepared, there was never a right way to say it—because there isn't a right way to tell someone you are a murderer.
My heart pounds in my ears, my palms clammy, and a knot clenches in the pit of my stomach.
I swallow hard, catching the subtle tick of his jaw. He's getting frustrated. His knuckles turn white on the steering wheel. But I'm scared...and I know he is probably just as scared as me. But I am terrified for myself and for Mikey... and Ty is scared for me.
"TELL ME!" He demands.
Fearful shivers crawl down my spine as the words roll off my tongue. "I killed someone," I say, my voice so cold, so meaningless that I wince.
He double-takes, looking at me and the road at the same time.
"...What do you mean you killed someone?"
I take a deep breath, staring at the road ahead. The story didn't start here, but it was the final straw. It was the event that broke me.
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