LAUREN’S POV

Standing there, my eyes filled with shock as I read through the email over and over again. The words blurred and sharpened, yet no matter how many times I read them, the message didn’t change. I scrolled up, scrolled down, even refreshed the screen like somehow the internet might have glitched and would replace those lines with something else, something better. But no, it remained the same.

They can’t do this to me.

No, this has to be a mistake.

I read it a sixth time, then a seventh. My chest felt tight, my heart hammering so loudly I thought Aria would hear it from across the dining...