CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MELINDA'S POV
I stumbled out of the café in a daze, my vision blurry from tears I was trying hard not to shed. Seven days, Verena had given me seven days to come up with fifty thousand dollars or my entire world would collapse. The afternoon sun felt too bright, the street too crowded, everything pressing in on me until I couldn't breathe properly.
I walked without direction, just needing to move, needing to put distance between myself and that booth where my life had been turned into a nightmare. My phone was clutched in my hand, the screen showing Verena's final text like a death sentence counting down.
I wasn't watching where I was going, my mind spinning through impossible scenarios, trying to figure out how to get that kind of money without Kieran finding out. May
