C hapter 11 I was a scholarship girl with a d angerous mouth and sharper hips . He was that kind of rich where even his socks looked expensive . We sat beside each other in economics . He never smiled . He didn't even look my way for the first two weeks . Until I wore that black dress with the slit up my thigh and asked the professor a question in front of the whole class . After that , he never stopped looking . We fell fast . Ugly fast . The kind of love where you scream more than you kiss . I'd scratch him during sex , and he'd call me his sin . But I wanted more . Not just from him . From life . I wanted to be on billboards . In magazines . I wanted lights and cameras and people screaming my name . Torren didn't like that . " You're not going to whore yourself out in that industry , " he told me one night after I showed him my first portfolio . I told him to go to hell and packed my bags the next morning . I left the country before he could stop me . I thought I was done with cold men . I thought I found gold when I met Jaxon . He was loud . Wild . Promised me the world with that crooked smile . Said his family owned networks , had their fingers in movies , modeling agencies , fashion empires . Told me I'd be a star in a year . I was young . I was hungry . I said yes when he proposed after two months . Biggest mistake of my life . Jaxon didn't own a single thing . Not even the apartment we lived in . Not even his broken - down car . He was broke . And worse , lazy . He drank before noon and lied with every breath . At first , he was just careless . Then he got cruel . The first time he slapped me , I was five months pregnant . Said I was " flirting with the neighbor " because I waved at him while carrying groceries . After that , it never stopped . I wore sunglasses to hide the bruises . Told people I had a migraine . Wore turtlenecks in the summer . He started locking me inside the apartment like a prisoner . No phone . No bank cards . Nothing . Once , I told him I was going to the store . I came back ten minutes late . He smashed a vase over my shoulder and yelled that my child probably wasn't even his . And when I was eight months pregnant ? Chapter 10 3/3 30.3 % 22:07 Sun , Aug 10 - 49 % X He kicked me . Dinner was late by five minutes . He came in drunk , took one look at the cold food , and roared like an animal . " You'll give birth to trash just like you , " he said , right before his foot slammed into my stomach . I remember lying on the floor , whispering to my baby not to die . I thought it was over . But I survived . And now ? I'm back where I belong . Right next to the man I never should've left in the first place . Torren Massaro . Rich . Brutal . Mine . And this time , I'm not going anywhere . Then another flashback hit me - sharp as cold wind and twice as bitter . I remembered the night I ran . Jude was only a few weeks old . His body so small , he fit into my coat like a secret . It was raining hard that night . Not the romantic kind . The mean kind . Dirty rain that soaked through your shoes and made the world smell like rust and regret . Jaxon had passed out drunk , beer still dripping from the bottle he dropped . I didn't pack much . Just diapers , formula , and one photo of me holding Jude in the hospital . We slipped out barefoot . No plan . No money . Not even a jacket for myself . I remember hiding in the corner of a train station , wrapping Jude in the last clean scarf I had . I told him stories while he cried , stories about queens and castles and soft beds . Meanwhile , my hands were bleeding from holding onto rusty rails . We moved a lot . Shelters . Abandoned apartments . One time we slept inside a photo booth . I worked every job I could find … waitressing in sleazy diners , scrubbing toilets in motels , even sold an old gold necklace I stole from Jaxon's deadbeat aunt . All for Jude . My baby had to eat . But more than that , he had to learn . So I taught him . Early . " Baby , " I'd whisper , tucking him in with secondhand blankets , " if we want to survive , we play the game . You hear me ? " He'd nod , tiny lips pressed tight , soaking in every word. Chapter 11 2/3 32.3 % 22:07 Sun , Aug 10 49 % - HOX " People love sweet . People obey beautiful . And people never question a smile . Learn to use it . " Jude learned quick . He could melt hearts with one pout . By age four , he could cry on command . By age six , he understood secrets were currency . He knew when to listen , when to hug , and when to stay silent . My boy ? He was no boy . He was becoming exactly what I needed . I didn't raise a child . I crafted a weapon . ** Back in the present , I reached over and brushed Jude's hair away from his forehead . His breath was soft . His lashes curled like angel wings . People looked at him and saw innocence . I looked at him and saw destiny . "I gave birth to a weapon , " I thought , smiling to myself . " And now he'll bring me the crown . " I sat up slowly , careful not to wake him , and opened the drawer of my bedside table . Inside was a tiny velvet box . I popped it open , pulled out an old fake engagement ring . I used to wear it when I was still pretending to be loved . Wore it so people wouldn't ask questions . Wore it so I could dream . I held it up , turning it in the light . " Soon , this will be real , " I whispered . " Massaro real . " I turned to the photo frame beside my bed . It was one of those hospital photos the nurse printed for us . Jude and I , all smiles . But I had strategically placed it in front of another picture . One that had Therese in it . Her face was barely visible now , cut off at the edge . Just the way I wanted . I laughed to myself . Therese never stood a chance . Poor thing thought love was enough . She thought honesty mattered . She fought with tears and devotion . Me ? I fight with survival . I fight with teeth . I fight with fire and silence and blood . Final line left my lips like a promise : " Therese fought with her heart . I fight with blood . " Sun , Aug