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slightest sound made my breathing quicken, my heart race, and my survival instinct was in full swing. So, as you can imagine, when I got up in the middle of the night to fetch a glass of water, I had every possible light on in the apartment. It would have been fine had Jacob not suddenly meowed at me from between my feet. The sound along with the sensation of his fluffy tail on my leg sent me hurtling across the kitchen and climbing on top of the fridge. I sat there for a good half an hour glaring at him as he stared up at me from the floor. He had a particularly satisfied look on his furry little face, and it irked me. I didn’t come down again ‘til Brad came home from his ‘boys’ night out.’ I should have realised, even back then, that he was being unfaithful. Men didn’t like Brad. He didn’t really have friends. He had colleagues. He was probably with her that night and every night that he claimed was for business or dining a client.
    I shook my head as I thought about all the signs I had missed or chosen to ignore. I knew they said you could be blinded by love, but I had clearly been knocked unconscious by it. I wasn’t blinded—I was comatose.
    Adam nudged my leg. “Hey, daydreamer, come back to Earth. There’s a very real issue you need to address, and I think you need to do it before—“
    The doorbell broke his lecture, and I flung my arm over my eyes and groaned. My mother quickly rushed out of the kitchen and practically bounced to the door. Opening it, she squealed with happiness and excitement.
    “Gareth! My darling boy. Oh, how I’ve missed you. Come, give Mummy a kiss.”
    My brother was a large man. Six foot three in height and built like a brick house pumped full of steroids. I wasn’t overly convinced he wasn’t pumped full of steroids. Going from matchsticks dangling from his shorts to huge, thick tree trunks in only three months was a little far fetched in my opinion.
    I peeked out from beneath the seclusion and safety of my arm. Adam was staring at me with his ‘I told you so’ expression. I mentally cursed myself for not seizing the opportunity to tell my mother in private when I’d had the chance. Because now, I had an audience and that included …
    “Nadine! Oh, you get more and more stunning every time I see you. I love your new haircut. And this dress is gorgeous. You always did have the best taste. Charlene, Charlene, doesn’t Nadine look wonderful?”
    I raised my arm in the air and gave her a thumbs up. I’d have preferred to give Miss Perfect a different digit from the same hand, but it would only have given me more trouble and I had enough problems already. Adam quickly caught my eye and shook his head.
    “It’s not worth it,” he mouthed. How the hell did he always know what I was thinking? I sometimes wondered if we were too close for our own good.
    “Charlene! Come and say hello to your brother and sister-in-law. You are so rude.” My mother gave me a hard stare before turning her attention back to Nadine. Huffing, I clambered off of the sofa and walked over to the door. I stood in front of my brother who towered over me.
    “Hey,” I offered.
    “Hey,” he replied. And that was pretty much our entire greeting. We didn’t feel the need for long, warm, drawn out hellos. It wasn’t our style, and we lacked the relationship. Gareth was my mother’s stepson. He was Henry’s son, and you might think it would have made us close, but it didn’t. Gareth had always been jealous of the bond I had with his father, and he made no secret of it. When Henry died, Gareth didn’t speak to me for almost a year. You see, my father had left me a considerable inheritance, and Gareth’s was not quite as large. Though mine did come with conditions. I had to use it for university. Gareth was already a senior at the local university, so giving him that sort of cash was pointless. Besides, he’d only have blown it on fast cars and faster girls. Which brought me right back to his