Arlene

I clenched my fists tightly, nails digging into my palm as I stood watching my father laughing and chatting with Cole Martinez—his eyes flickering over to me every few seconds like some haunting shadow from my past.

Well, he was an actual haunting shadow from a past I never want to talk about. A past I now believed never existed.

Just like that, my stepmother had found a way to ruin the launch for me.

“Arlene?” Olivia’s voice snapped me out of my rage spiral. She walked up beside me, dressed like she was ready to appear in a magazine spread. “Isn’t that Cole Martinez?”

I gave her a...