Chapter 2
The house felt frozen after Noah said it.
Jasmine stopped breathing.
Lena stared at her brother like she had not understood the words.
I stood there holding my mother’s broken picture frame, blood from my thumb running down the glass.
Nobody moved.
Then Jasmine laughed.
It sounded fake.
Too high.
“Noah is drunk.”
Noah looked at her.
“I’m seventeen. I rode my bike here.”
“Then you’re being dramatic.”
He dropped his backpack near the door.
“No. I’m tired.”
Lena’s voice shook.
“Tired of what?”
Noah looked at her.
Then at me.
Then back at Jasmine.
“She’s been telling Mom that Daniel is controlling you.”
Lena frowned.
“What?”
Jasmine rolled her eyes.
“Oh my God.”
Noah kept going.
“She told Mom he checks your phone. That he doesn’t let you see family. That he yells when you mention moving out.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
I had never checked Lena’s phone.
I had never stopped her from seeing anyone.
I had never asked her to move out.
In fact, I had begged her for months to make this house feel like ours.
Lena turned slowly toward Jasmine.
“You said you were worried.”
“I am worried,” Jasmine snapped.
Noah stepped closer.
“You’re not worried. You’re jealous.”
Jasmine’s face darkened.
“Watch your mouth.”
“No,” he said. “I have watched long enough.”
He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out his phone.
“I recorded you at Mom’s last week.”
Lena’s mouth parted.
Jasmine lunged.
“Noah!”
I moved between them before I even thought.
Jasmine stopped inches from my chest.
“Move,” she hissed.
“No.”
Lena’s hand flew to her mouth.
Noah backed toward the dining table and tapped his phone.
Jasmine’s voice filled the room.
Not the sweet, concerned voice she used around Lena.
A colder one.
“She’s too comfortable there. Daniel thinks he has her locked down because of that stupid house. We just need to make her see him as the problem. Once she leaves, she’ll realize who actually takes care of her.”
Then another voice.
Lena’s mother, Denise.
“Jasmine, he seems decent.”
Jasmine again.
“Decent men don’t isolate women in dead people’s houses.”
My stomach twisted.
Lena looked like she might fall.
Noah stopped the recording.
Jasmine’s face had gone pale, but her anger stayed.
“You recorded me?”
“You were ruining my sister’s life.”
“I was protecting her.”
“From a man who made her soup when she was sick? From a man who paid my soccer fee when Dad forgot again? From a man who let me sleep here when Mom and Dad fought?”
My eyes stung.
I had not known Noah noticed.
Jasmine pointed at me.
“See? This is exactly what I mean. He buys loyalty.”
I almost spoke.
Lena did first.
“He didn’t tell me about the soccer fee.”
Jasmine blinked.
“What?”
Lena turned to me.
“You paid Noah’s soccer fee?”
I looked down at the broken frame.
“He asked me not to tell you. He was embarrassed.”
Noah wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
“I wanted to play. Dad said he forgot. Daniel just paid it and told me to score at least one goal so his money wasn’t wasted.”
Lena gave a broken laugh through tears.
I remembered that night.
Noah had shown up with mud on his shoes and shame in his eyes. He had asked if I knew anywhere hiring seventeen-year-olds. I asked why.
He cried before answering.
So I paid.
Not because I wanted credit.
Because someone should have.
Jasmine grabbed her purse harder.
“This is pathetic. All of you acting like he’s some hero.”
Lena turned toward her.
“Why did you lie?”
Jasmine’s jaw clenched.
“I didn’t lie. I said what I saw.”
“You saw what you wanted.”
“I saw you disappear into his life.”
“I moved in with my boyfriend.”
“You stopped coming out.”
“Because I was tired from work.”
“You stopped answering me.”
“Because every conversation became about how Daniel was wrong.”
Jasmine’s eyes filled.
For one second, she looked hurt.
Real hurt.
“You promised me nothing would change.”
Lena went still.
“What?”
“When you met him,” Jasmine said. “You promised I’d still be your person.”
“You are my friend.”
“No,” Jasmine said. “I was your family before he showed up.”
Lena’s face softened, but only a little.
“Jasmine…”
“No.” Jasmine’s voice broke. “Do you know what it felt like watching you build a life with him? Watching you make dinner here, fold laundry here, talk about marriage like I was supposed to clap while you left me behind?”
My anger shifted into something sadder.
Still angry.
But sadder.
Because Jasmine was not just cruel.
She was terrified.
That did not excuse her.
But it explained the desperation behind her teeth.
Lena whispered, “So you tried to make me afraid of him?”
Jasmine looked away.
“I tried to make you wake up.”
Noah’s voice was small.
“You tried to make her lonely.”
That landed.
Jasmine turned toward him like she might slap him.
I stepped closer.
“Don’t.”
She stared at me.
Then she laughed bitterly.
“Of course. The noble man protecting everyone.”
I held up the broken picture frame.
“No. Just a man in his own house asking you to stop destroying things.”
Her eyes flicked to the frame.
For the first time, shame touched her face.
Then the doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
Lena wiped her face.
Noah looked at the door.
Jasmine’s expression changed too fast.
Fear.
Not surprise.
Fear.
I moved to the door and looked through the peephole.
A woman stood on my porch in a gray coat, holding a clipboard.
Beside her stood a police officer.
My pulse dropped.
I opened the door.
The woman looked at me.
“Daniel Carter?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Angela Reeves with Family and Domestic Safety Services. We received a welfare concern involving Lena Brooks.”
Lena made a sound behind me.
Jasmine whispered, “Oh no.”
I turned slowly.
She was already backing away.
Angela glanced past me into the house.
“We need to speak with Ms. Brooks privately.”
I looked at Lena.
Her face had gone white.
Then Noah spoke from behind the table.
“She called them,” he said, pointing at Jasmine.
Jasmine shook her head.
“No.”
Noah’s voice rose.
“She told me she was going to make sure Lena couldn’t ignore the truth anymore.”
The officer looked at Jasmine.
Angela’s grip tightened on the clipboard.
Lena stared at her best friend.
“You reported Daniel?”
May you like
Jasmine’s eyes filled with panic.
“I did it for you.”
