When She Stops Playing Nice

Chapter 3

“Gina, your dorm at school has gone up in flames, Michael stated as they drove.

Gina’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Alright, I’ll head back and check it out” Exiting the car, she made her way on foot.

Her phone vibrated with a text from an unknown number. [Where the hell have you vanished to? Get your ass back to

home, now!].

Gina scoffed and blocked the number. Really? Changing numbers to harass me? What the fuck are they thinking?” she thought.

She had made up her mind to sever ties with the Miller family and wasn’t about to let them pull her back in.

When the Millers first found her, Gina was on a mountain, gathering medicinal herbs, covered in dirt and sweat.

They mistook her for someone foraging for wild vegetables, their eyes laden with barely concealed disdain.

the

They were momentarily surprised to hear Gina had aced her college entrance exam and secured a spot at Trowell University. However, they quickly diminished her achievement, thinking she was nothing more than a bookworm, lacking grace and talents of Olivia, who had been shoehorned into Trowell’s art program through connections and hefty sums.

Gina rarely stayed with the Miller family. They rationalized it by saying living in the dorm was more convenient, saving her the trouble of commuting. Meanwhile, they bent over backward driving Olivia, a fellow Trowell student, around.

But Gina seldom spent her time at school. To her, college was meaningless; she only needed an innocuous front. Yet, this became Olivia’s ammunition to slander her, accusing Gina of being a dropout, always skipping class, and goofing off God knows where.

Regardless of how much Gina tried to set the record straight, the Miller family wouldn’t have a bar of it.

spared no venom in her ridicule. “Look at you. What could you possibly achieve?

First time

school shows

Gina bagged a scholarship as the top student, paying her way through college, they couldn’t muster a single

spent, failing to

seen through this bullshit a long time

to a slow stop beside Gina, the

school. Blocking her path here was spot on.

the carl he demanded, voice dripping with menace. “Come home and kneel, apologize to

a look reserved for

Tue, 21 May

Chapter 3

thrown, snapped back, “What’s this about dreaming? Are you ignoring me? Get

crap?” Gina fired back,

be as quiet as a mouse, barely uttering a word. And now look at her,

of the car,

One word to the principal from us, and you’re out of

me out? As if you could, Gina thought, her

apology?” Gina asked, voice cold and lips curled into

Dad’s signature, creating a fake will. That alone deserves more than a mere punishment, and yet you dare

couldn’t help but laugh, retorting, “I only return home when you call. I don’t even have the keys, let alone access to Dad’s room. How could I have possibly used his seal

insisting, “Who knows what you did

the familiar outcome. Never mind, my brothers will never

more words were necessary,

shouted, determined to drag Gina back home

grabbed her arm, but Gina’s icy gaze made him flinch, thinking of Liam still in the hospital.