From Mob Princess to Mugshot Photographer novel Chapter 19

Chapter 2

The town was so small that I ran into Soren just turning a corner on my way to pick up my prescription.

A convoy of luxury cars was parked outside the only hotel in town. It was the group of trust–fund kids he ran with.

Catching a sudden glimpse of me, Ryan’s eyes went wide, and Hannah clapped a hand over her mouth.

I walked past as if I hadn’t seen them, wanting nothing more to do with any of them.

But Ryan closed the distance in a few quick strides and grabbed my arm, shouting to Soren like he’d just discovered a new continent.

“I knew it! You drag all of us out to this godforsaken shithole, and it turns out it was for her all along.”

The mood turned heavy, and Ryan, realizing his mistake a second too late, quickly let go.

The blood had drained from Isabelle’s delicate face, and her hands were clamped around Soren’s arm.

Soren let out a soft laugh and flicked his cigarette away.

“Well, she was almost the one I married. Since I’m getting married for real now, I figured I owed her some closure.”

At his words, Isabelle’s gaze filled with pure loathing.

But all she said was, “Soren, you never told me about this.”

Ryan grinned. “How could he tell you? The woman standing before you is the one who called off the wedding and dumped your precious Soren back in the day.”

I looked at Soren in confusion. That wasn’t how it happened at all. Why didn’t he correct him?

But he just stared at me, his gaze heavy. “That’s right, Tessa. You’re really something else.”

Hannah, who had been quiet, sized me up and murmured, “God, she’s gotten so thin. She’s nothing but a bag of bones.”

I remained silent, a cold sneer curling inside me.

Sick for five years, swallowing more pills than food–it was a miracle I was still a bag of bones and not just dust in the ground.

Soren sneered. “Back in the day, if I hadn’t practically forced eight meals a day down her throat, she would have wasted away to nothing.”

Back in the day.

Just four words, and the past came rushing back.

13:50

From Mob Princess to Mugshot Photographer: Smile Ex

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Chapter 2

I wondered if the handful of pills I’d just swallowed were expired. They weren’t doing a damn thing, except making all my organs feel like they were twisting into one painful knot.

Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. I lowered my head, trying to make a quick exit.

But Soren reached out and grabbed my arm, his voice laced with that same cocky tone.

“Let’s make a deal. Get that gown altered to my fiancée’s size, and be quick about it. I’ll pay ten times what you took from my parents back then. How about that?”

Fifty million dollars.

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