Chapter 1

For seven years, I was Liam Sterling' s shadow.

I organized his notes, wrote his papers, and coached him through every single exam.

I did it all, making sure he had everything he needed to succeed.

Because of me, he became the top student in the state, his name celebrated in every local newspaper. I was the reason for his perfect scores, the architect of his academic glory.

Everyone knew it, but no one ever said it. To them, I was just Ava Clark, the quiet girl who followed Liam around like a lost puppy.

Tonight was the graduation party.

The air in the rented hall was thick with the smell of cheap champagne and sweat.

Music pounded from oversized speakers, and the whole senior class was here, celebrating the end of high school and the beginning of everything else.

Liam stood on a small, makeshift stage at the front of the room, a microphone in his hand.

He had his arm wrapped tightly around Skye Miller, his new girlfriend. Her smile was sharp and possessive.

They looked like the king and queen of the prom, soaking in the adoration of the crowd.

He raised his an arm for silence. The music died down and all eyes turned to him.

"Thank you, everyone!" he shouted, his voice confident and loud. "We did it! We' re finally done with this place!"

The crowd cheered.

"I know everyone' s talking about which big university they' re going to," he continued, his eyes scanning the room before they landed on me. He gave me a cold, dismissive look. "But I' ve got a different plan. Skye and I are going to Northwood Community College."

A confused murmur went through the crowd. Northwood was where you went when you had no other options. For the state's top student to go there was insane.

Skye leaned into the microphone, her voice sickly sweet. "We want to be together, and that' s what' s most important."

Liam grinned and pulled her closer. Then he looked directly at me again. His voice was casual, but his words were a public execution.

"And Ava," he said, the whole room turning to stare at me. "You should come to Northwood with us. You know you can' t manage without me telling you what to do. It' s for the best."

The room filled with snickers and whispers. "His lapdog." "She' ll do whatever he says." "He owns her."

Humiliation burned my cheeks. For years, I had endured this. I remembered the time he' d spilled coffee on his history textbook and made me kneel on the library floor to apologize in front of everyone, claiming it was my fault for not organizing his bag properly.

I had done it without question, my head bowed low. Something inside me had always compelled me to obey him, a strange, suffocating force that silenced my own will and made his every whim my command.

Everyone expected me to nod meekly now, to accept my fate as his sidekick at a second-rate college.

But this time, something was different.

As his cruel words hit me, that suffocating pressure in my mind, the one that had been there for as long as I could remember, just... vanished.

It was like a chain had snapped. For the first time in seven years, my mind was clear. My own thoughts were loud and sharp. And they were full of rage.

All the years of silent suffering, all the public shame, all the times I bit my tongue until it bled-it all came rushing to the surface.

I looked straight at Liam. My voice, when it came out, was not the quiet whisper everyone was used to. It was clear, cold, and loud enough for the whole room to hear.

"No."

The snickering stopped. A shocked silence fell over the party.

Liam' s smile froze on his face. He looked genuinely stunned, as if his dog had just spoken to him in perfect English.

"What did you say?" he asked, his voice losing its confident edge.

"I said no," I repeated, standing up straighter. "I' m not going to community college with you, Liam. I' m not going anywhere with you."

Liam' s face turned red. He was not used to being defied, especially not by me.

"Ava, don't be stupid," he hissed, trying to regain control. "You' re coming with me. That' s an order."

He used that tone, the one that had always made me shrink and obey without a second thought. I braced myself for the familiar wave of compulsion, the invisible force that would make me agree.

But there was nothing.

Just a vast, quiet emptiness where the block used to be. I felt a dizzying sense of release, of freedom. The chains were well and truly broken.

I let out a small, almost hysterical laugh. It felt so good to breathe.

"You don't get to order me around anymore, Liam," I said, my voice ringing with a strength I didn' t know I possessed. "I' m done."