I still remember Piper—just thirteen—smirking from the staircase. That’s when I learned the truth. My father had been cheating for years.
Mom and I ended up on the streets. One freezing night, we stumbled into the middle of a kidnapping. A bunch of black-clothed guys dragging a young man in to a van, Colin Marks, heir to the Marks Family, was being dragged into a van.
Mom didn’t hesitate. She jumped in, fought the men off, saved Colin—almost died doing it. Stabbed over and over.
Afterward, Colin brought us into his home, against his parents’ wishes.
Mom turned down his offer to support us. Instead, she worked as a housekeeper in the Marks’ estate. I transferred to Colin’s school. Day after day, I watched that sweet, kind boy grow into someone I couldn’t help falling for.
He loved me back. On my 20th birthday, he held my hand, knelt in front of my mom and promised he’d spend the rest of his life protecting me.
But all that started changing a year ago.
He went to karaoke with some friends. When he got back, he started talking about Piper… differently.
“She’s not who I thought she was,” he said one night. “She’s working three jobs to pay for school. Can you believe that?”