���I don���t understand why you insist on working Saturday evenings—or at all, for that matter. If I didn���t know any better, I���d think you were purposely trying to avoid me.���

Although spoken in a teasing manner—later that evening, as Adelaide steps into the brisk night air and makes her way home, Ethan���s words come back to haunt her—because he���s right. She has been purposely avoiding him. And apparently Brandon disapproves as well, which hurts all the worse.

She thought she was strong enough to pull off this ridiculous charade—but it physically pains her to be anywhere near him. Even when in the same vicinity as Ethan, she feels the overwhelming urge to flee; to run as far and fast as her legs can carry her.

It���s a burden that���s starting to weigh her down into the deepest bowel���s of her own private hell.

There���s never a moment of peace back at the house, and there never will be again. Not while living under the same roof as him—in the room right across from him.

He���s so close. Always so close. Waiting and watching. Ever mindful.

Sometimes Adelaide swears he can see straight through her lies and know exactly what she���s thinking.

But surely, if threatened, he wouldn���t really kill her? It���s far too risky a move. And Brandon wouldn���t put her life at risk like that either. He swore to keep her safe, and she believes him when he says that. Yet the irony is not lost on her that he is also the one pushing her into the very danger he vows to shield her from.

The sad part is, all she wants is the one man she can never have; the one man she trusts completely.

It���s an awkward position for a young girl her age to be in.

Oh, how she longs to have the normal complications of a teenage life. But things with her are rarely��ever��that simple. That would be too ��� kind.

Perhaps this is fate���s way of getting even.

If she���s being honest with herself, it���s what she deserves.