(Beverley’s POV)
I barely slept that night. The conversation with Mom kept replaying in my head on an endless loop, like a broken record I couldn’t turn off no matter how hard I tried. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her hopeful face from earlier in the evening, that soft, almost apologetic expression as she told me my future had already been decided without me. The anger sat heavy in my chest, a tight, burning knot mixed with something sharper and more painful. Betrayal. It cut deep, like a knife twisting slowly.
I tossed and turned for hours under my sheets, kicking them off when they felt too suffocating, then pulling them back up when the chill from the AC hit my skin. My room, once my safe little sanctuary with its string lights, posters from high school plays, and the stack of c
