Chapter 3

The silence that followed my dramatic paper-slapping felt electric, charged with the kind of tension that precedes a storm. Ken's face had gone from pale to ashen, the divorce documents scattered around him like fallen leaves. His arms were still wrapped protectively around Marissa, but his eyes were fixed on me with an expression I'd never seen before—something between shock and fury.

"You look different," Marissa said suddenly, her tear-stained face lifting from Ken's chest to study me with unnervingly sharp eyes. "That dress... it's so red. So... exposed."

Her voice carried a strange quality, like a child trying to…