Page 1

Part One

Chapter 1

Not A Meet Cute

Ican see it now.

My name will be on everyone's lips. And it's because I'm the girl whose death led to a Netflix documentary.

Karyna Francisco: The Girl Who Kept Hoping Her Stepfather Wasn't Evil. And Paid the Price for Her Stupidity with Her Life.

…

Okay, I know I probably could've worded that better.

Or maybe not.

I've never been gifted with words. My earliest memories of Mom were of her shouting 'shut up', and when she and my stepfather married, Joel also started shouting something similar.

Instead of simply asking me to shut up, he was more…descriptive. He yelled at me to 'shut the fuck up'.

But anyway.

Netflix probably wouldn't give me the time of the day with a title that boring (and just plain uninspired, if we're being honest).

But I honestly don't have time to think of something else because⁠—

Ding.

The elevator doors slide open just as I round the corner, and the first person to step out is Konrad.

Nooooooooooooo!

The people my stepfather has sold me to as payment for his gambling debts are back, and I barely have time to retreat before they see me.

I duck into the side hallway that branches off the corner, and I press myself against the wall so hard I can feel the raised pattern of the wallpaper through my shirt. I don't dare breathe. The carpet is thick under my sneakers, so thick it swallows every sound, but that doesn't stop me from panicking that it didn't swallow mine.

“Watch the elevators," Konrad orders from somewhere past the corner. "And the fire exits."

Like always.

Konrad, the man Joel sold me to, is so paranoid that he never walks into a building without covering every way out of it. I've been stuck in this hotel long enough to know his routine by heart, so I also know what comes next.

Footsteps. His, heavy and impatient, going right past the mouth of my little side hallway without slowing down.

Toward my room.

Nobody's standing guard outside my door, and I know exactly why. They think I'm too meek to run. Too dumb to even try.

And honestly?

Until today, they would've been right.

I was hoping to leave the hotel before they got back, but that's now out of the question, so…

Think, Kar!

Ten months ago, Joel lost his job and started gambling online.