Chapter 7
Seeds of Doubt
Tiffany's relentless bullying escalates, pushing Hallie to her limits. Liam witnesses a glimpse of Hallie's hidden strength, further blurring the lines between tormentor and protector.
The fluorescent lights of Blackwood College hummed a constant, irritating drone, a soundtrack to the gnawing anxiety that had become my constant companion. Two years. Two years I’d been away, hiding in plain sight, and yet, here I was, the air thick with the same suffocating tension, the same suffocating stares. Tiffany Moore was a storm cloud perpetually hovering over my head, her voice a sharp, grating sound that sliced through the ordinary chatter of the hallway.
“Look who it is,” she sneered, her eyes, sharp and predatory, landing on me as I fumbled with my locker. Her entourage, a gaggle of equally vapid girls, giggled in unison. “The ghost of Blackwood past. Finally decided to grace us with your presence again, Hallie?”
My knuckles were white as I gripped the cold metal of the locker. Breathe, Andrea. Just breathe. I was Hallie Ford here, the quiet girl who’d disappeared for two years, the girl who’d been the subject of hushed whispers and bewildered glances. I was not Andrea, the daughter of Don Giovanni, the woman who could command armies with a single word. Here, I was supposed to be invisible, a phantom. But Tiffany seemed determined to drag me into the harsh glare of her spotlight.
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