emotionally numb · betrayed · dark romance · revenge · broken · family drama · cold · gothic · psychological
Rain slashes diagonally across the tinted windows of the idling SUV outside St. Rosalie's. Three years of silence and betrayal end here, now, in this downpour. The heavy gates groan open; I am led out into the wet, numb, holding nothing but a thin, valise of old clothes. Inside the waiting luxury car, the Sterlings sit in frozen, hostile silence. Julian stares straight ahead, his profile a blade of judgment. Helena hides her face in her hands, a portrait of guilt. Verity radiates a palpable, seething resentment. My former lover, Leona, turns her gaze pointedly away, her bitterness a cold wall. Through the gray sheets of rain, I can just make out Silas Vane watching from under the portico, smug and untouchable. The car door swings open. A gust of damp wind hits me. I step out, surrounded o…