After the collapse of Niamh’s company, even her white BMW 3 Series had to be pawned. Now, she was left with nothing–flat broke, not a penny or asset to her
name.
Even the most recent dividend from FY, she had wired straight to Elmer’s mother.
As she walked across the Harbourview Skybridge, the salty wind off the bay whipped around her, leaving her mind startlingly clear.
Niamh pulled out her phone and opened a password–protected private album.
There was only one photo inside.
It was a picture of her and Jonathan together.
She’d snapped it in secret back at the Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, during one of those rare moments when they were allowed their phones. She wasn’t sure if Jonathan ever realized she was taking the photo; maybe he hadn’t noticed, or maybe he did but pretended not to.
At Aldenville Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, the place was run like half–school, half–prison, and on rare occasions, they got brief access to their phones.
Niamh had been so grateful to capture even a single photo with Jonathan back
then.
She was pretty sure she’d fallen for him first.
Those first, dizzy feelings of young love–how could anyone resist Jonathan’s
charm?
Later, she was convinced Jonathan genuinely cared about her too. Otherwise, he never would have promised her he’d never forget her, that they’d always be together.
For teenagers, those grand declarations–promises of forever–are almost. irresistible.
Niamh had fallen, utterly and completely.
No matter how many times she changed phones over the years, she guarded that photo like a treasure, keeping it safe, as if it were a snapshot of her entire youth–a testament to her most sincere and passionate love.
Niamh stared at the photo on her screen for a long, long time.
1/3
14:30
Then, with a steady hand, she deleted it.
The picture was gone, and so was the secret album she’d created just for it.
Now, for the first time, there were no more secrets on Niamh’s phone.
Nothing holding her back.
She looked up at the sky, breathing in the damp, briny air.
The wind was fierce, whipping her hair into tangles, but the smile on her face didn’t fade.
She remembered something Lana had said to her over barbecue last night.
Lana had quipped, “Jonathan’s just a man, Niamh. Three–legged frogs are hard to find, but two–legged men are everywhere!”
Once upon a time, Niamh might have retorted that Lana had never really been in love, so she couldn’t understand how hard it was to let go.
But now, Niamh found herself agreeing with her.
She opened a job–hunting app, curious to see how many companies had viewed the résumés she’d sent out in a frenzy the night before.
A fair few had checked her profile, but none had called.
Niamh wasn’t worried. The job market was rough these days, and finding work took
patience.
Before her screen went dark, she wondered what had become of all those trending scandals about her. Out of curiosity, she checked every major news site, only to discover that there wasn’t a shred of negative press about her left.
“Huh?”
Niamh blinked, surprised.
She wasn’t naive enough to think Jonathan had swooped in to fix things for her.
If he’d really wanted to help, he wouldn’t have let public opinion spiral out of control in the first place.
After a moment’s thought, she realized there was only one person–someone wit both the motive and the means, and who lived in a different time zone from Aldonia–who could have done it.
She picked up her phone and dialed a number.
14:30
Chapter 341
“Hey, Rina.”
Carlisle still couldn’t get used to calling Katarina Quinn by her new name, “Niamh.”
Before, Niamh would have ignored him completely.
After all, she’d long stopped being “Katarina.” Every time someone called her “Rina,” it felt like they were trying to tie her back to the Quinn family, to a life she’d left behind.
