Zayn’s devotion to Melinda was absurd. The Qualls Family had been close friends of the Erickson Family for decades. Melinda and Zayn had grown up as childhood playmates.
When they were twelve, a gas leak occurred during a family trip at a rented B&B. Melinda had risked her life to pull Zayn’s mother out of the building, saving her from certain death. But the tragedy cost Melinda her own mother, who perished in the explosion.
From that day forward, the Erickson Family treated Melinda like one of their own. When her father remarried, bringing an abusive stepmother into her life, the Erickson Family took her in completely. She became their daughter in all but name and they granted her every wish.
There was even a time when the Erickson Family pressured Zayn to marry her. But he refused, saying he only saw her as a sister and that I was the only woman he loved.
Yet, time and time again, for the sake of this woman he supposedly didn’t love, he hurt me—the one he claimed to cherish. The irony was unbearable.
I had questioned their relationship before, but every time I tried to voice my concerns, it only enraged him.