When 20-year-old Kara Bennett moves to Boston to escape her post-high school drama with her daughter, she didn't expect to fall straight into it in the form of Austin Mayer.
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All Kara Bennett...
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NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I BLINKED, THIS FUCKING MADNESS DIDN'T END.
I knew what a psycho Mila Mayer was. She showed me her true face in Northampton. However, I figured out what I'd witnessed way back was a glimpse of the chaotic disaster she could make. The punishment I faced was messing with her and taking her boyfriend from her — it was what she believed. This time, I was taking her precious brother away, for real, and it took me a long time to realize she would stop at nothing to get to me.
I was so blind — so reckless. Even the naive, young Kara wouldn't make this simple mistake: playing with the fire. She wouldn't have messed up with her enemy by touching her precious territory. I, Kara Bennett, challenged Mila unknowingly, daring her to bring the worst in her to beat me.
To get what was hers back, Mila was threatening me with who was mine. Sophie.
I washed my face with cold water again, then hovered over the sink. My tears were fighting with my pride, and whenever they won, I washed them away. Sophie shouldn't have seen me weak or desperate. Who would have saved her if I failed?
When my legs started to ache, I sat on the ground against the door. Do I love Austin Mayer? When I saw his empty proposal over the message, I wished that we would have been in an alternative universe that his message could make my heart beat. Instead, I felt queasy for putting him in such a desperate position.
Austin believed he was the superhero that could save us from this misery. If I accepted his marriage proposal, nothing would change. Mila wouldn't be out of our lives, and she would run to Lucas to spill the truth. Our marriage wouldn't save us. On top of that, I would forever feel guilty for pushing him into an arranged marriage. This wasn't love — love shouldn't have been this difficult.
We'd marry eventually, he said. That was exactly the problem. When we felt comfortable and ready to marry, we would connect our lives. However, not like this — this wasn't the happy ending I dreamt of.
Why did Mila always have to shake the ground when I was finally on the axis?
Ace knocked on the door and said Austin was here. I buried my face into my hands because I wasn't ready to face him at the moment. I wasn't ready to reject his half-assed marriage proposal with a half-assed no.
"Kara." Austin's voice fogged my cloudy sky. I could no longer see further — I didn't know where this went. Is this the ending, Austin? Did we fight a battle we lost at the beginning? Were we foolishly brave? Did we really think we stood a chance against fate? "Open the door, love. We need to talk."
"Leave me alone," I replied, wiping my tears. "Please."
"I thought this through."
Does he think I care about custody? The fury bottled up inside me made me get up and open the door. His eyes widened at the sight of me. "Do you fucking believe I'm scared of losing the custody?" He looked at me, his mouth was agape. "I don't want Lucas to know about Sophie. I don't want my daughter to call him her father."
