Chapter 2

2.

Chloe and I used to be best friends.

When I was fourteen, my father―an overseas CIA operative―was killed in action. His name was carved onto the Memorial Wall at Langley.

A year later, my mother, consumed by grief and depression, passed away.

My father's best partner, Chloe's dad Robert Baxter, took me into their home in McLean, Virginia.

The Baxters were kind to me. Chloe held my hand and swore, "Mia, from now on, I'm your sister. We'll be best friends for life."

We wore dresses from the same brands, went to the same summer camps, and shared all our girlish secrets. When someone at school gossiped about my parents, she was the one who spray-painted their locker shut.

For a while, she was the only light in my life after I became an orphan.

Then, when I was sixteen, Julian Thorne moved in next door.

He was the kind of guy born to be in the spotlight. Smart, handsome, the star of the lacrosse team, with a smile like the California sun.

But with me, he was different.

He would patiently explain AP Physics problems to me. He remembered all the little things I liked, like how I only drank my iced Americanos unsweetened.

He was the first person to make my heart race.

And Chloe, she also showed a huge interest in Julian.

I didn't think much of it back then. It was normal for a girl to fall for a guy that dazzling.

We even made a pact: whoever got to go to the homecoming dance with Julian would have to treat the other to a feast at The Cheesecake Factory.