Chapter 6

I should have known that my small acts of rebellion wouldn't go unnoticed forever. Charlotte had eyes everywhere, and the walls of my carefully constructed cage were beginning to feel tighter than ever.

The first sign came when I spotted the same man twice in one day—once outside my apartment building and again near the cosmetics studio. He pretended to be engrossed in his phone, but his eyes followed me too carefully. The second sign was Charlotte's sudden, detailed knowledge of conversations I'd had with Leon in places I thought were private.

"Behavioral psychology, Ivy? Really?" Charlotte's voice dripped with…