Angel Beaumont was beautiful. Like her name, she was angelic, or what people thought angelic should be: a pale and delicate girl with long blonde hair and eyes the color of a midnight sky. She had a glow of innocence that drew men into her orbit and made women bitterly jealous. An angel, yes. Even her nature was kind-hearted. But people mistook her gentleness for weakness. She was quiet, yes, but only because she spoke when she had something to say. She was shy, but not necessarily naive. No one really knew who she was. But there was one man who saw through to her very heart. Zander Payne.

When I asked my crush Hayne Garrison to spend my eighteenth birthday with me, I imagined a picnic blanket spread under a starry sky. Cake. Champagne. And ... confession. Mine. 


I'd spent my entire time in high school focused on three things: 1. Survive the Croft family. 2. Become a top scholar. 3. Marry Hayne Garrison. 


Chapter 1 - The man in the shadows