One Year to Live: I Traded My Toxic Family for Global Fame novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: March Third
Tegan woke on the cot in the garage with sunlight across her face and Cal's arm heavy over her ribs.
For a moment she lay still and breathed.
There was no cold concrete under her and no blood in her mouth.
She reached for her phone on the floor and held it above her face.
March 3.
She read it again, slowly, the way she had read March 2 a year ago.
Under the date sat a single alarm she had set on the first morning, with the label Don't be late.
She had never been sure whether it was a joke or a prayer.
She held her thumb on it until the screen asked her if she wanted to delete.
She did.
"Mm," Cal said into her shoulder. "Is it the third?"
"It's the third."
He opened one eye.
"Then you're late for nothing," he said, "and I'm late for nothing, and I think we should stay here."
"We can't."
"Why not?"
"Because someone is knocking."
Someone was.
It was a quiet knock, the kind that expected to be refused.
Tegan pulled on a sweater and opened the side door.
Rosalyn stood on the step in a plain grey coat with no pearls.
She held no bakery box, and her phone was nowhere.
Her face was tired and bare, and her eyes were swollen.
"I won't come in," she said. "I only came to say it, if you'll hear it."
Tegan leaned on the doorframe.
"Say it."
"I stopped looking for you the year you were seven." Rosalyn's voice was low and steady. "The detective wanted to keep the search going, and I told him it was cruel. I wanted a family that wasn't waiting. I let Camille fill your room, and I called her by your name, and I told you after you came home to stop being difficult, when you were only asking where you'd been."
Keep reading free with an account. Start One Year to Live: I Traded My Toxic Family for Global Fame from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend