"Tell me you don't actually believe that."
"I'd be wise to believe it since it's happening right before my eyes."
"Sabrina!"
"Goodbye, Jordan."
"Sabrina, don't do this. Don't fucking do this to us. Just…trust me."
"No," I whisper. "I'm sorry, I can't. The same way you don't believe that my father is innocent. Otherwise, you wouldn't have run so fast. Jordan, you couldn't even wait for me to get back from finals. And I'm the woman you're supposed to be marrying.God, what a colossal idiot I am. I believed everything you told me and I fell in love with you."
"Sabrina, for the love of God, just listen to me, don't hang up. Baby, I want to see you too. It's killing me not to be able to hold you. I need to explain some things to you. Listen, I'll come to Henderson soon, okay? I can't say exactly when but I want there to be nothing between us when we talk. I need you to be able to look into my eyes and see the truth there."
I want to believe him so badly it hurts.
"Can you just do one thing for me?" he asks.
Silence stretches between us.
"Hang in there, baby, I'm coming for you."
"I don't know," I say honestly. "Maybe. I'll try."
"I love you," he says.
I hang up.
And that's the last time I speak to Jordan Farrington for eight years.
16
Thedaysblur.
It's not that I don't hear from Jordan. I do. A lot. I'm just too caught up in the hell that's now my reality.
The last four months were a pipe dream and life just threw a bucket of cold water on me. Now I'm awake to find my reputation in tatters.
The small-town Cinderella who turned the billionaire heir into a golden retriever, is now the gold-digging slut who—along with the rest of her thieving family—tried to leech her way into wealth.
The untouchable employee who clearly didn't need her job but deigned to show up for all her shifts is now the one her co-workers wouldn't even speak to for fear of being labelled with her.
The perfect daughter who brought home the perfect son is the prodigal daughter who didn't listen.
Mom tries to defend me to her friends, but I see it in her eyes sometimes, that subtle shift in her gaze.If only I'd listened to my father and never gone near Jordan.
Finally sick of the bullying from Murphy, and the jeers from Madeline, I hand in my notice at Pizza Fiesta.
Bills still need paying, though, and within a week I'm lucky to find work with Mima's—the same diner Jordan and I used to escape to. It's farther from home than Pizza Fiesta, but the tips are better, and I can borrow Dad's old bike.
Jordan calls me every day but I don't pick up. Reality is too sharp, too painful. Reaching for Jordan feels like reaching for a dream.
My only hope is that he'll keep his word. That he'll come through for Dad.
My graduation is today but I don't attend because it's the same day as Dad's arraignment.
My only hope is that Dad is granted bail. That Jordan keeps his world.
Father was denied bail. Jordan didn't come through. Again.
