Page 1

Chapter 1
Evangeline
My phone chimes a few feet away on my bed, and I freeze.
There’s only one contact I assigned the creepy sound to, and it immediately gives me the proper reaction the person behind the number deserves: a pounding heart, trouble breathing, and a lot of gut-wrenching nausea.
The phone is buried under several financial management textbooks, and I reach for it with a shaky hand. But before I can read the message, there’s a knock on the door.
“Ready or not, here I come.”
I grab the phone and push it into the side pocket of my leggings just as the door swings open, and my best friend, Ruby, waltzes in with her fluffy pink bathrobe floating behind her and her hair twisted in a towel atop her head. Even in this getup, she’s dazzling.
She stops in her tracks when her gaze settles on me, her eyes wide. “Evangeline Caldwell, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I take a steadying breath and shrug, not trusting my voice.
Ruby tilts her head toward the open door and yells, “Mason.”
Great, now I really need to make sure my poker face is in position.
One best friend is hard enough to fool, but both of them together? It will take a little miracle.
Mason, our third roommate, joins us. One glance at me, and his eyebrows dip. “Did someone die?”
The second I turned eighteen, I bought a house and asked my two best friends if they wanted to move in with me for college. It’s nothing like the million-dollar mansions we grew up in, but big enough to accommodate a large family. Thank goodness my parents have given me a significant allowance ever since I was a teen, and I actually listened to my sister and saved as much of it as possible so I could buy a house when I was old enough and could get out from under my parents’ thumb.
Ruby smacks him on the arm. “No one died, you sourpuss.” She leans my way and whispers, “Right?”
I shake my head. “No one died, no.”
At least, I hope not.
Mason gestures from me to my bed and back to me again. “Why on earth are you sitting here, looking likethat, and doingthisthen?”
I assume bythathe means my slightly unkempt appearance, or at least I’m sure I don’t look my finest. I haven’t taken a shower yet or touched a hairbrush to appearmore human.
Andthisis the scattered schoolwork around me on my crumpled duvet.
I glance at the clock on my bookshelf. “I still have time. We don’t have to leave for another two and a half hours.”
Ruby sighs like I just confessed I prefer to hang the toilet paper roll under. “The makeup and hair stylists will be here in about half an hour.”
My brows draw together. “Huh?”
“Didn’t your mom tell you she booked a team for us? There will be photographers at the party.”
I shake my head to indicate I didn’t have a clue and because I can’t—and don’t—want to deal with this right now. None of it.
I’m not a masochist, so being stuffed in a room with a bunch of people I mostly don’t care about sounds like torture. It’s almost impossible to feel anything but dread over it, especially after receiving a text message fromFreddy. I’m sure he’ll try to ruin my life even more than he already has.
You’re almost there, Eve. Next year, you’re done with school, and you can finally leave this place to work overseas.
Mason’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, and I catch the end of whatever he’s saying. “Well, you only turn twenty-one once, and we all know that public image is at the top of the priority list for our parents.”
“Right alongside making more money than we’ll ever know what to do with,” Ruby chimes in.
He raises his brows. “That goes without saying.”