Lina's POV
Mandy hung her head so low I couldn't see her face anymore. But her voice—it trembled with every word.
"My mom said... if I don't cut ties with Elijah completely, she'll swallow a whole bottle of sleeping pills. She said she can't bear the shame of walking outside knowing her daughter is seducing her own stepbrother. She said even if the scandal doesn't give her a heart attack, the humiliation will kill her anyway."
Those were her mother's exact words. Mrs. Bernice Cross's exact words.
"After my dad died in the line of duty, my grandparents blamed my mom for being cursed. They said she killed her husband, that I killed my father. After they kicked us out, my mom worked five jobs just to feed me."
I swallowed hard. "So you don't want to disappoint her?"
"I've
