Rina's POV.
My stepmother, who looked exactly as I remembered…cold and composed, with a sharpness in her eyes that had haunted my childhood. My blood ran cold. I was still frozen, the joy of the evening draining from me in an instant.
They were looking at me. And worse, they were making their way over.
‘What… how are they even here?’ I thought, panic flooding my veins. I hadn’t invited them. I hadn’t even told them I was matriculating. They didn’t care about my achievements or my life here. But here they were, like shadows from a nightmare that refused to let me go.
Kade hadn’t noticed yet; he was still grinning, oblivious to the icy presence approaching. Syl’s voice filled my mind, snarling in disgust.
‘Look at them, daring to show up here,’ she spat. ‘All those years they crushed yo
