CHAPTER 28

I stared at the phone in my hands, rereading the line of text like the words would miraculously morph into something else. My anxiety was getting worse by the second and I was this close to hyperventilating. It was a text from Mark, and it simply said ‘have brunch with me. 1pm, The Lark cafe. Be there.’ Of course I could simply ignore it, but if I knew Mark very well, which I did, I knew that the text message wasn’t an invitation, there was a threat embedded somewhere in those words, between the lines. Mark was good at doing that— manipulating and gaslighting you into thinking you had a choice, but in reality, you didn’t. I knew there was no getting out of this brunch with him.

“Haze?”

I jumped at the sound of Valerie’s voice, and dropped my phone, which only made me jump again when it made a clattering sound as it fell on the counter. Christian stopped chewing his food and looked at me, expressionless. I’d been so focused on the text message that I had completely forgotten where I w