Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

she’d chosen her new husband over me and never looked for me once after
she threw me out for something he did.
Adeline had never been the warmest or most empathetic mother, but the
callousness of her actions stung harder than I thought possible. No matter
how harsh her words, it was supposed to be me and her at the end of the day.
Turned out, it was her and money. Or her and her ego. It didn’t matter.
All that mattered was, I wasn’t and had never been first in her eyes.
“What are you doing?” Max passed me. “Let’s go!”
I shook myself out of my trance and followed him. Now wasn’t the time to
engage in self-pity. It was only a matter of time before Alastair discovered his
money and prized jewels were missing, and we wanted to be long gone by
then. 
My stomach flipped when the exit came into sight. We were going to make
it. Just a few more steps—
Crash!
My eyes widened in horror when Max bumped into a side table in his

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haste. The porcelain vase sitting on it toppled to the floor and shattered with
enough force to wake the dead.
He stumbled and landed on the broken pieces with a curse.
“What was that?” Alastair shouted, his voice carrying through the house.
“Who’s there?”
“Fuck!” I grabbed Max’s hand and dragged him up and down the hall.
“We have to get out of here!”
He resisted. “The necklace!”
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted the glittering diamonds lying
amongst the jagged white shards.
“We don’t have time. Alastair’s almost here,” I hissed.
My stepfather’s angry footsteps grew louder. In less than a minute, he
would catch us, and we could kiss our freedom goodbye unless he was in a
forgiving mood.
Bile rose in my throat at the prospect of being at that creep’s mercy.
Max was greedy, but he wasn’t an idiot. He took my advice and
abandoned his quest for the necklace.
I spotted a glimpse of Alastair’s thinning blond hair and furious face
right as we flew through the back door, but I didn’t stop running until Max
and I passed through the forest bordering the property and reached the side
road where we’d parked our getaway car.
It was only then that I noticed the blood staining Max’s sleeve.
“They tracked me down using the blood I left behind from nicking myself
on that stupid vase.” Bitterness crept into Max’s voice. “A few fucking
bloodstains, and I lost years of my life. The judge happened to be a good
friend of Alastair’s, so he handed down a heavy fucking sentence. Of course,
you were long gone by the time the police came. There was no evidence you
were involved—they couldn’t catch your face on the security cameras—and
Alastair didn’t want to drag the case out when he already had me as the fall
guy. Bad publicity, you see. So you got away scot-free.”
I hated the twinge of guilt in my gut. We’d both been in the wrong, and
he was the only one who paid for it.
I understood why he was angry, but I also didn’t regret running when I
had the chance.
I’d only fallen into the con life because of Max. I’d needed money, and
it’d been impossible for me to get a job in town after people found out my
own mother kicked me out. She never told anyone why she did so, and the

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rumors ran wild—everything from me selling drugs to me getting knocked up
and losing the baby because of my supposed coke habit. Either way, no one
wanted to touch me with a ten-foot pole.
Luckily, I had enough cash saved up to tide me over until I met Max two
weeks after being kicked out. I’d been sucked in by his looks, charm, and
flashy car, and it hadn’t been long before he roped me into running cons with
him in Columbus.
But our ski weekend had shattered his spell, and I’d only stayed with him
until I had the resources to leave Ohio for good. My acceptance to Thayer
and Alastair’s cash gave me what I needed, and I snuck away the night after
we broke into my stepfather’s mansion.
I hopped on a midnight bus to Columbus, bought the next flight to D.C.,
and never looked back.
“You might think I’m upset.” Present Max smoothed a hand over his hair.
“I’m not. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect over the years. Become a better
person. I’ve learned how to let bygones be bygones. That being said…”