Amber left the café with her head spinning. Karla's story about Olivia had changed everything. She needed time to think before meeting Rawls at the bookstore.
"Miss?" A barista called as she passed the counter. "You forgot your journal."
Amber froze. Her journal—the one with all her thoughts about Rawls. She'd left it on the table when Karla showed her those letters.
"Thank you," she whispered, shoving it deep into her bag.
Outside, rain had started to fall. Amber hugged her bag close and hurried to her car. Her phone buzzed with a text from Claire:
Can I borrow your gray sweater for tonight's dinner? I'll stop by your place.
Amber texted back quickly:
Not home. Key under the plant. Take whatever you need.
She needed to see Rawls now, to confront him about Olivia. The truth was worse than she'd imagined.
Claire unlocked Amber's apartment, shaking raindrops from her hair. The place was neat as always—except for a coffee mug left on the counter and clothes tossed on a chair.
"Must have left in a hurry," Claire muttered.
She found the gray sweater in Amber's closet and tucked it into her bag. As she was leaving, her phone rang. It was her mother.
"Did you talk to Amber yet?" Karla demanded.
"No, Mom. I'm at her place getting a sweater, but she's not home."
"Good. I need more time with her. Don't tell your father I showed her those letters."
Claire sighed. "I don't want to be in the middle of this."
"You already are, sweetheart. We all are."
After hanging up, Claire bumped the table, knocking Amber's bag to the floor. Contents spilled everywhere—lipstick, keys, wallet, and a worn leather journal.
Claire froze. The journal. The one Simpson had stolen.
She shouldn't look. It was private.
But as she gathered the scattered items, the journal fell open to a page with her father's name circled and surrounded by hearts.
Claire's hands trembled as she picked it up.
July 15 - Rawls smiled at me today. Not just a polite smile, but a real one that reached his eyes. Does he finally see me as a woman and not just Claire's little friend?
Claire flipped back a few pages.
June 3 - Claire invited me to her dad's birthday dinner. I spent three hours getting ready, but Rawls barely looked at me. He's still so hung up on Karla.
Shock turned Claire's blood cold. She flipped forward.
August 2 - Rawls touched my hand at the bookstore today. It was probably an accident, but I couldn't breathe for a full minute. I'm pathetic, pining after my best friend's father. But I can't help how I feel. I've loved him since I was sixteen.
Claire sank to the floor, journal clutched in her hands. Tears blurred her vision as she read entry after entry—years of Amber's secret feelings for her father.
The most recent entry was from just days ago:
Rawls asked me to meet him at the bookstore tomorrow. Alone. My heart won't stop racing. After all these years of watching him from afar, something is finally happening between us. But what about Claire? How will she feel if she finds out? Would she ever forgive me?
Claire slammed the journal shut, her whole body shaking with anger and betrayal. Her best friend and her father? How long had this been going on?
She wiped furious tears from her cheeks and dialed her father's number.
"Dad? Where are you?"
"At the bookstore. Why?"
Claire's voice hardened. "Are you waiting for someone?"
A pause. "Claire, what's going on?"
"Tell me the truth. Are you waiting for Amber?"
Another pause, longer this time. "Yes. We need to talk about some things."
"Like how you've been sneaking around behind my back? With my best friend?"
"It's not what you think—"
"Save it." Claire hung up and tossed the phone aside.
She stared at the journal, then made a decision. She wouldn't leave before confronting Amber face to face.
Two hours later, Amber rushed up the stairs to her apartment, exhausted and emotionally drained. Rawls had waited at the bookstore, but she never showed. After hearing Karla's story about Olivia, she couldn't face him yet.
She unlocked her door and froze. Claire sat on her couch, eyes red and puffy, the leather journal open on her lap.
"Claire?" Amber whispered, her stomach dropping. "What are you doing?"
"I came for a sweater." Claire's voice was eerily calm. "Found your secret instead."
Amber's bag slipped from her fingers. "You read my journal?"
"I didn't mean to." Claire looked up, her face streaked with tears. "It fell open when your bag tipped over."
"That doesn't give you the right to—"
"To what? Find out my best friend has been in love with my father for years?" Claire stood up, journal clutched in white-knuckled fingers. "That she's been lying to my face every day since we were teenagers?"
"I never acted on it," Amber pleaded. "It was just feelings."
"Just feelings?" Claire's laugh was harsh. "You've been meeting him behind my back! At the bookstore, at his house when Mom and I weren't there."
"That's not what happened!"
"Stop lying!" Claire threw the journal at Amber's feet. "It's all here! Every secret thought, every moment you shared with him that you never told me about."
Amber's chest tightened. "Claire, please—"
"Did you sleep with him?"
"What? No!"
"But you want to." Claire's words hung in the air between them.
Amber couldn't deny it. Her silence was answer enough.
"How could you do this to me?" Claire's voice cracked. "You were like a sister to me."
"I still am," Amber whispered. "Nothing's changed—"
"Everything's changed!" Claire grabbed her purse. "You betrayed me. Both of you did."
"Your dad never encouraged it. He doesn't even know how I feel."
Claire laughed bitterly. "Then why is he waiting for you at the bookstore right now? Why did Simpson say you two have secrets?"
"It's complicated—"
"Save it for your journal." Claire pushed past her toward the door. "Stay away from me. And stay away from my father."
"Claire, wait! You don't understand about Olivia—"
Claire froze, her hand on the doorknob. "What about Olivia?"
"Your mom told me everything. About who she really was, and why Simpson hates your dad."
Claire turned slowly. "What are you talking about?"
Before Amber could answer, her phone rang. Rawls' name flashed on the screen.
Claire's eyes hardened. "Answer it. Put it on speaker."
Amber's hands trembled as she hit the button. "Hello?"
"Amber, thank God." Rawls sounded frantic. "Did Karla tell you about Olivia?"
"Yes," she whispered, watching Claire's face.
"Whatever she said is a lie." Rawls' voice was urgent. "Olivia wasn't Simpson's girlfriend. She was his wife. And she was also my sister."
Claire gasped. Amber's knees buckled.
"Simpson blames me for her death," Rawls continued, "but he's the one who—"
The line suddenly went dead.
Claire stared at Amber in horror. "His sister? Simpson was married to Dad's sister?"
"I don't understand—"
Claire's phone buzzed with a text. The color drained from her face as she read it.
"What is it?" Amber asked.
Claire turned the phone so Amber could see the message from her mother:
Your father just collapsed. We're on our way to the hospital. Simpson was here. Something's very wrong.
Chapter 10: Shattered Bonds
Claire's phone clutched tight in her hand, Amber stared at the message about Rawls collapsing. "We need to get to the hospital!"
"We?" Claire's voice turned to ice. "There is no 'we' anymore."
"But your dad—"
"My dad. Not yours." Claire grabbed her purse. "Don't follow me."
Amber reached for her arm. "Please, Claire. This isn't just about us. Something happened with Simpson there!"
Claire yanked away. "I don't care! All this time—years—you wanted my father. You sat in my room, came to family dinners, hugged me and lied to my face!"
"I never meant to hurt you," Amber whispered. "The feelings just... happened."
"Feelings?" Claire laughed bitterly. "You wrote an entire book about him!" She pointed at the journal on the floor. "Page after page of how much you love him, how you dream about him, how you want him to notice you."
Amber's face burned with shame. "They were private thoughts. I never acted on them."
"Until now! Meeting him at bookstores, going to his house when I'm not there." Claire's eyes filled with fresh tears. "Did you think I'd just be okay with this? That I'd give you my blessing?"
"No, I—"
"Who even are you? The Amber I thought I knew wouldn't do this."
Amber tried once more. "Your dad needs us both right now. Whatever happened with Simpson—"
"Stop using my father as an excuse!" Claire's voice cracked. "You can't have him, Amber. Not as your boyfriend, not as your secret crush. Nothing."
"Claire—"
"I never want to see you again." Claire's words fell like stones between them. "Stay away from me. Stay away from my family."
"You don't understand about Olivia—"
"I don't care about Olivia!" Claire's hand gripped the doorknob. "She's dead. But our friendship? You killed that all by yourself."
The door slammed shut behind her with such force that Amber's framed photos rattled on the wall. One fell, the glass cracking across Claire's smiling face.
Amber sank to the floor, picking up her journal with trembling hands. Years of her deepest thoughts exposed. Her secret shame now destroying the most important friendship in her life.
Her phone buzzed again. A text from Karla:
Simpson disappeared after Rawls collapsed. Doctor says he was poisoned. Police are looking for Simpson now.
Poisoned? Amber's blood ran cold. She had to get to the hospital.
Outside, rain poured from a darkened sky. Amber ran toward her car, keys fumbling in her shaking hands. A nearby car door slammed, and she jumped.
"Amber?"
Doug stepped from the shadows, umbrella in hand. "Are you okay? You look terrible."
"I need to get to the hospital." She tried to move past him. "Rawls is hurt."
Doug blocked her path. "I know. Claire just called me in tears."
"Let me pass."
"She told me everything." Doug's eyes were hard despite his soft voice. "About you and her father."
Amber's stomach dropped. "There is no 'me and her father.' She misunderstood."
"Did she?" Doug stepped closer. "I saw you at his house. Late at night. Alone."
"That's not—"
"Claire's my friend too." Doug's voice hardened. "I won't let you hurt her more than you already have."
"You don't understand what's happening," Amber pleaded. "Simpson might have poisoned Rawls. I need to warn them."
Doug's eyebrows shot up. "Poisoned? That's quite an accusation."
"Please, just let me go."
After a long moment, Doug stepped aside. "She doesn't want you there, Amber. Think about that before you make things worse."
Amber rushed past him, tears mixing with rain on her face. When she reached her car, she found a flat tire, the rubber slashed open.
"No, no, no." She kicked it in frustration, then looked back to ask Doug for help, but he was gone.
With shaking hands, she called for a cab, huddling under the building's small awning while she waited. Everything was falling apart. Claire hated her. Rawls was poisoned. Simpson was missing.
And the journal that held her darkest secrets had exposed everything.
Twenty minutes later, the cab dropped her at Mercy Hospital. Amber rushed through the emergency entrance, but a security guard stopped her.
"I'm here for Rawls Benedict," she explained.
"Family only." The guard looked at his clipboard.
"I'm... I'm his daughter's friend."
"Not on the list." His expression was firm.
Amber stepped back, defeated. Through the waiting room windows, she spotted Claire and Karla huddled together near a vending machine. Neither saw her.
Feeling lost, Amber stumbled back outside and collapsed on a bench beneath a small tree. Rain still fell, soaking through her thin jacket, but she hardly noticed. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
"Amber?"
She jerked up, wiping tears from her cheeks. Rawls stood before her, looking tired but very much alive.
"You're okay!" She stood, almost reaching for him before catching herself. "They said you were poisoned."
"Mild case of food poisoning, nothing more." Rawls frowned. "Why are you sitting in the rain? And why have you been crying?"
Heat rushed to Amber's face. How could she tell him his daughter had discovered her embarrassing journal full of romantic fantasies about him?
"It's nothing," she mumbled.
"It's clearly not nothing." Rawls sat beside her, wincing slightly. "Is it about Olivia? What Karla told you?"
"Partly." Amber couldn't meet his eyes. "Your sister... Simpson's wife..."
"Yes." Rawls sighed heavily. "I should have told you sooner. Olivia was my half-sister. She married Simpson against everyone's wishes. When she died..."
"Claire found my journal," Amber blurted out.
Rawls went silent.
"All these years, I've written about..." Amber's voice failed her.
"About me," Rawls finished quietly.
She nodded miserably. "She hates me now. Says she never wants to see me again."
Rawls ran a hand through his hair. "I'm so sorry, Amber."
"It's not your fault. It's mine for writing it all down. For feeling this way." Tears welled up again. "I should have controlled my feelings better."
"We can't control our feelings," Rawls said softly. "Only our actions."
Before Amber could respond, Karla appeared at the hospital entrance, her sharp eyes finding them immediately.
"There you are, Rawls! The doctor is looking everywhere for you!" Her gaze turned cold when she spotted Amber. "Haven't you done enough damage for one day?"
Rawls stood. "Karla, that's unfair."
"Unfair?" Karla laughed harshly. "Claire is devastated because of her." She pointed at Amber. "And here you are, proving her worst fears correct."
Amber stood on shaky legs. "I should go."
"Yes, you should." Karla's voice cut like glass.
Rawls reached for Amber's arm. "Wait—"
A car screeched to a halt at the curb. Simpson leaped out, his face ashen.
"Rawls!" he shouted. "Don't trust her!"
Karla stiffened. "Call security!"
"You don't understand," Simpson panted, rushing toward them. "She's not who you think she is!"
"He's delusional," Karla snapped. "He's the one who poisoned you!"
Simpson shook his head frantically. "It wasn't me. It was her!" He pointed straight at Amber. "She's been working with Doug Dawson the whole time!"
Amber gasped. "What? That's ridiculous!"
"Tell them who you really are!" Simpson demanded. "Tell them your real name isn't Amber Ryan!"
Rawls turned to her, confusion in his eyes. "What is he talking about?"
Amber stare