Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“Shipments?”
Her heavy sigh sounds like static on the line. “Oh honey, you were too young at the time. Jude’s father ran some very unsavory businesses. One night, his mom found something tied to Brighton University, to some faculty members: bribes, drug deals, it went deep. Politicians were involved, and it all led back to Jude’s dad.”
The Dean’s List. I’d bet money on it. That’s what she’s talking about. But it was something far worse than some TikTok trend or rumor. It involved livelihoods, lives, futures.
“We let him come to our house to protect him as much as we could from his father’s influence. But as he got older he got smarter, of course, and started suspecting things weren’t all right. His mom was going to tell him that year what was going on, she was going to file for divorce and everything…” She sighs, lighter this time. “I’ll never forget the day she told me. It was the first time I saw an honest to God smile on that woman’s face. She sounded like she had hope for the first time in her life.”
My stomach sinks. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?
Her sigh is heavy again, a sip, another sip. “At the time, your dad said it wasn’t our business. He was in tight with Edward Hale. He convinced me it would be our necks if we said anything, and I was already pissing him off by taking Jude in all those nights. It was easy to blame your friendship, but I know it made your dad uncomfortable. Before his job at the university he would do odd jobs for Edward. You don’t remember, but your dad had a hell of a job getting hired on full time at the university. He was always an adjunct professor, but others had better degrees, more money, more connections than us.”
I frown. “Crazy timing then, the sudden move out of town, him getting a job at Brighton.”
“It wasn’t a coincidence. Edward wrote your dad a letter and your dad got the job offer the very next day. I was so thankful to get you away from Jude, from his family and their influence…I never asked questions. Had I known it would traumatize you the way it did and break up our family I would have made a different choice, but hindsight’s twenty-twenty, right?” Another sigh, another sip. “And we were in so much debt that the extra money to move helped.”
“The extra money?”
“Yeah, the university even gave us an extra ten grand when we told them we couldn’t move out here that fast.” She chuckles, but it sounds sad. “I’ve never been more thankful.”
My stomach sinks to the floor. The ten grand that Jude thought we took as hush money. The lies his dad told him to keep him close—no, not just that, but to keep him angry at me, to keep him from knowing the truth.
And that’s when it hits me.
They did this on purpose so Jude would never find out.
So Jude would never discover what his mom had: The Dean’s List. The only question is, where the hell is it if she’s no longer here. And did he kill her for it?
We need it now more than ever. At least one thing is perfectly clear, neither of our dads are in charge of it. There’s someone else behind the scenes, and unless his mom isn’t really dead, it’s the person who currently has the list.
So, we’re back to square one.
Exposing whoever’s behind it or doing something scandalous enough to gain notice, we need it to bring him down.
“Honey?” Mom suddenly sounds tired or maybe it’s just my own exhaustion creeping in. “You still there?”
“Yeah.” I bite down on my lower lip. “I’m here.”
“What made you call and bring all that back up?”
“He’s here,” I say. “Jude, at my university.”
“Alive?”
“Did you know?” I hope she didn’t. I hope she didn’t just keep this from me too. “That he was alive this whole time?”
“Honey, some things are meant to stay buried, believe me I have more ghosts than I’d care to admit. I knew getting you far away from that boy was the smartest thing we could do. His family won’t stop. It’s my job to keep you safe, even his mom knew that before she died.”
“So you did,” I whisper. “You saw me suffering, and you still said nothing?”
“You were fine!” She raises her voice so much I pull the phone from my ear. “You never cried, you studied harder, and you forgot all about him.”
But I didn’t.
I never forgot him.
I never forgot his smell.
The feel of him.
“I faked it,” I admit. “All of it. I was heartbroken. I was just afraid if I added more stress to your lives, I’d lose you guys too. Then you got divorced, and everything started falling apart around me. The only thing I could control was my stupid diet and behavior. So I did. I controlled what I did to make you happy while I was slowly dying inside!”