Landlord Wars(68)



Had they been together the whole time, and I was the idiot who never knew?

The thought cut like a thousand knives to my chest. I wobbled in my heels, the world spinning, my chest rising and falling rapidly.

Even though I hadn’t seen much of Max this week, in my mind, we were together. He’d checked in every day and made sure I ate lunch, which I often forgot. When I was with him, my world was lighter. He made me laugh, and he supported me in ways that made me believe I could conquer the world.

But not his world.

After everything I’d experienced tonight, it was clear I’d never fit into Max’s world.

My hands shook, and I swiveled in a circle, not knowing where to go but knowing I couldn’t stay. And locked eyes with Paul.

I’d gone numb after the announcement, and all I could do was stare at my ex.

He was alone this time, no fiancée clinging to him. But Paul didn’t look smug. For once, he looked concerned.

I didn’t remember leaving the ball, but in the next moment, I was walking down Van Ness, the expensive heels Max had bought me hurting the balls of my feet, my ankles wobbling every time I stepped in the cracks of the concrete.

Max had never taken me out on a proper date. Never introduced me to his friends. No one knew we were together except Jack, who was only marginally a part of Max’s society.

Was Gwen Max’s official girlfriend and I the secret?

Elise was wrong. A person didn’t need to be married to have a sidepiece. They could be so heavily entrenched in the upper crust that outsiders would always be “other.”

A wave of dizziness washed over me, and I stumbled. The heel of one shoe scraped the ground loudly before I caught my balance.

Maybe this had been a setup by his family. I didn’t know. I couldn’t process it. What I knew was that I had no value in the eyes of his parents, nor anyone at the ball—the people he rubbed shoulders with daily. Even if he wanted to be with me, I’d never be welcome.

Tears burned behind my eyes, but they didn’t flow. They sat there choking me. I wasn’t angry enough to cry, as numbness filled every cell.

It wasn’t until I was halfway home that I reached for my phone to call for a ride and remembered I didn’t have it. The phone wouldn’t fit inside my grandmother’s purse, so I’d left it in my workbag.

By the time I got home, my arms were covered in goosebumps and my teeth were chattering. I crawled up the last steps to my apartment and entered the darkened living room, not bothering to turn on the lights. Inside my bedroom, I kicked off my shoes and fell facedown on the bed, hiccupping before the tears finally came.

The sound of my moaning filled the room. Even if tonight had been one huge mistake, being cut daily by these people would slowly kill me.

I couldn’t do it.

My head pounded, and eventually a wave of exhaustion took me under.





“Sophia?”

Someone was shaking my shoulder lightly. A second later, the shoulder nudge grew stronger. “Sophia, are you okay?”

Jack. I opened my eyes, and the blurred room oriented itself until I could see tuxedo-clad legs beside my bed.

I pushed up on a shaky arm, still wearing my dress.

Jack crouched in front of me. “You okay?”

“No.”

“Elise called me.”

I didn’t know what time it was. A dozen hours could have passed or none. “Is everything okay?” Elise was avoiding Jack like the plague. She’d never willingly call him.

Jack rubbed his eyelids like he’d been up half the night. “Elise contacted Max when she couldn’t get a hold of you. She got his number the night we all went drinking.”

That’s right. Elise had drunkenly demanded Max’s phone number because she “needed someone to pay for drinks while she was in school.”

I leaned forward and sank my pounding head in my hands. No matter if it was twelve hours or one, it felt like only minutes had passed since I’d fallen asleep. After a moment, I crawled across the floor to my workbag and dug for my phone.

I’d missed twelve text messages and six phone calls from Elise. Max had called me four times. “What’s going on?”

Jack let out a low sigh and ran a hand through his rumpled hair. “I’m sorry, Sophia. You’ll have to talk to Max about what happened earlier tonight.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe Gwen did that.”

“I mean with Elise.” I tugged the skirt of my gown where it was tangled in my legs, frustrated and wishing I’d bothered to put on sweatpants when I got home. “What happened with Max doesn’t matter. It’s over.”

Jack’s expression went from tense to sad. “It’s not over. Not for Max. But you’re right to worry about Elise. You need to get to the hospital. Your mom had an accident. That’s why we’ve been trying to reach you. Max said he pounded on the door earlier, and when you didn’t answer, he rushed off to the hospital, thinking you’d gone there.”





Still wearing the green ball gown, I ran into the emergency room of the University of California San Francisco hospital, half my eye makeup running down my cheeks.

I searched frantically for the front desk while Jack parked out front.

The nurse behind the counter looked to be in her thirties, her hair pulled into a messy bun, with blue scrubs and a cream sweater to combat the freezing hospital air conditioning.

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