Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

Cheating.

I stumbled back. Hearing it from her lips made it real. I’d done so much to not be the person my mother raised me to be. Instead I’d become someone who cheated on two people instead of just one.

Quicksand.

Sinking deeper and deeper.

I had to get out of here. What the fuck was I doing? I pushed to the front of the restaurant, until I was outside in the wet cold, salty bitter wind blowing against my cheeks.

“It’s her!”

I lifted my head at the shout. Outside the tearoom, people shook homemade signs, faces twisted in vicious sneers. Now that I was closer, I could read their signs.

Team Lottie

Stepsister Slut

On the other side, the signs read differently.

We love you, Cinderella!

Sides? People were picking sides?

“It’s definitely her! Stepsister Slut!” They jeered at me.

I stumbled back, tripping on my heels as a tomato flew through the air, hitting me in the face. I wiped the sticky wetness out of my eyes, surprised at the throbbing that followed.

Glass.

They’d shoved glass inside the tomato.

Then the crowd broke through, rushing toward me.

Thirty-Nine

STORY

* * *

My ankle hurt, but I could probably walk on it. The problem was the sea of rabid fans between me and the street. They’d divided and conquered the narrow shop into factions, with one small strip of no man’s land between them. I’d managed to hide from them, but then my phone rang at the worst possible time.

“Where are you?” Grayson’s gruff voice demanded. “Ping me your location.”

“I can’t talk,” I whispered.

“Where are you?” His deep growl stopped any rebuttal I had.

“I’m…” I looked around. “By the tearoom, but hidden between the bookstore and the garbage.”

“Stay there and ping me your location.”

He hung up, and I prayed no one had heard.

I should have hired guards.

I should have asked West to hire guards.

I never imagined I would be someone worth attacking.