“I’m DONE being the victim.”
I think about the slime dripping down my hair.
The laughter.
The humiliation.
The looks.
The betrayal.
My lungs burn hotter.
“I’m DONE being the nice girl who plays it straight.”
Another wave crashes loud beside me, spraying cold seawater across my shoes.
“THEY WANT A BITCH?” I shout into the wind. “I’LL BE THE BIGGEST ONE THEY EVER MET!”
Because something deep inside me shifts.
Like a tectonic plate turning.
Like a door unlocking.
Like a switch flipping in the center of my chest.
All the fear.
All the shame.
All the soft edges everyone counted on?—
they melt.
What’s left is sharper.
Stronger.
Dangerous.
A phoenix rising from ashes that aren’t even cold yet.
I slow to a stop, chest heaving, hands on my knees.
The ocean roars beside me, wild and unforgiving.
I lift my head.
“I’m coming back to Royal Oaks,” I whisper.
“My way.”
The wind steals the words?—
but the ocean gives them back.
By the time I get back to the cottage, my legs feel like rubber and my lungs feel like fire. The cold wind stung my face so hard it practically froze me from the outside in, but inside…
