Chapter 1

One

TIANA

Twenty-Four Years Later

I stared at the pill bottle sitting in front of the mirror with dread.

I always dreaded taking the unknown pills, but then I'd hear my mom's voice in the back of my head, "You need to take these every day, Tiana. Do you hear me? Every day or else something bad will happen."

I was all dressed to go partying with my friend Lori in ten minutes, and she was arriving soon to pick me up from my parents' house. I snapped on rose gold earrings to match my gold dress, which clung to my curves and stopped just above my knees. My cleavage showed quite a bit in this dress, and I pulled it up a little bit in case my mother threw a fit.

Even though I was twenty-four, my parents were still highly protective of me, and I had no idea why. It had been that way ever since I was a baby. They always claimed that I wasn't like the other girls and that I was special .

Whatever the hell that meant.

Picking up the bottle of pills, I turned the bottle around to look for a label or anything on it like I always did to find out what it was. As usual, there was nothing there. Opening the bottle, I poured out a pill filled with translucent gray matter floating inside, which sat on my palm. I stared at it in disgust. I only really started questioning what the pills were when I hit my late teens.

My parents were secretive, claiming that they were vitamins, but my mom had a lifetime supply of them under her bed for me. Vitamins had labels, names, and lots of numbers.

This bottle had nothing to indicate what it was.

So, instead of taking the pill this time, I walked to the toilet and flushed it down. I wasn't going to take something that I wasn't sure of anymore. If my parents cared enough, they'd tell me what it was for. I felt a sort of victory watching it disappear while anxiety rippled through my stomach. I had never directly disobeyed them like this, but I was getting fed up with the half-assed answers and bullshit.

Grabbing my small purse, I slung it over my shoulder and headed across the tiny hallway of our apartment into the living room, where my parents were hanging out after their shifts together at a retail store across the street. They were lounging on the old couch, which had tufts of cotton sticking out, and quietly chatted while watching the evening news.

"Tiana, where are you going?" Mom asked, looking at me inquisitively and pushing up her large-rimmed glasses. She was like a hawk, constantly watching everything I did.

"Just going out with my friend," I said vaguely, stepping into my black heels and strapping them on.

"You look like you're going to party or something. What's the big occasion?"

"We just need a break from college life. That's all there is to it, Mom," I sighed, getting fed up with her line of questioning. She got especially nervous if I was around guys or if I mentioned a guy in particular. This was her way to prevent me from ever dating. Her reason was that I needed to finish college first before getting into a relationship.

"Don't have too much fun," chuckled Dad, cracking a peanut shell with his teeth.

I just wanted to scream that I could have all the fun if I wanted to, but I held it back.

"Yeah, I won't," I said, leaving out the front door before either of them could say another word. Thankfully, Lori was pulling up at the side of the road at that moment. My heels clicked on the cracked cement sidewalk, and I nearly tripped several times over the uneven road.

"Hey!" said Lori as I got into the car.

"Hey," I greeted back, sighing when I pulled the seatbelt.

"What's wrong, girlie?"

"Nothing," I said. "It just sucks to still live with the parents. You know?"

"Haha, yeah, that sounds terrible," she said, flipping her curly blond hair back. She wore a tie-dye print dress that was unique but also stylish paired with lime green heels. Her several keys jangled in the ignition along with a sizeable pink fur teddy bear attached to it.

"I'm so ready to party," said Lori. "It might make me stop thinking of terrible James and the migraine from classes. My god."

"I need to get out too," I agreed, watching the road as she took a left turn to the bar she was heading to. It was the liveliest bar in Seattle, with plenty of cute guys and action. Low-key, I was hoping to meet a guy and finally have an adventure of my own. But for some reason, it was tough for me to get excited about a relationship, and I've never met a man who could give me butterflies.

"I have something to ask you. A favor," said Lori.

"Yeah?"

"Well, umm. This is sort of last minute," said Lori. I knew full well she was going to ask, regardless. She was crazy like that. "My cousin invited me to her cruise ship, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me. I can bring one other person, and it's all paid for."

Oh no, my parents would lose their minds if I ever slept anywhere else but at home.

"I don't think…"

"I know, Tiana. Even when we were kids, you were never allowed to come to sleepovers with me or anything," sighed Lori. "But you're fucking twenty-four, for goodness sake. Why can't you distance yourself from your family a little bit? Live your own life?"

"What if I didn't want to go?" I asked, taking offense that she'd jump to conclusions so quickly, even though she was right.

"I highly doubt that," said Lori. "This is a cruise vacation. Three days."

"When is it? I need to make sure I'm not busy or anything."

"It's the day after tomorrow. Sunday," said Lori.

"Whoa, that's super short notice," I said. "I don't know."

"Before you write it off, please think about it," said Lori. "I really need you. My cousin is a catty bitch, and I need someone there. I don't have any fucking friends except for you."

Ugh, when she put it like that ….

"Fine, I'll think about it," I said as she parked the car in front of the establishment. It was already crowded with people at 8 pm, surprisingly. Friday nights were busy, and I gulped with nervousness. I never enjoyed going out partying with Lori, but I needed to get out of my comfort zone.

And not be so scared of what my parents would think.

Just a couple of hours later, I was already tired of partying. The music was blasting as I tried to talk loudly enough for Lori to hear.

"What are you saying?" shouted Lori for the fifth time, drink in hand and very wobbly.

"You're not supposed to be drinking. You're driving us back," I said, but it looked hopeless now. I wouldn't trust her to drive at this point at all. She was already extra giggly with the guys and didn't seem stable to me.

"You can drive my car," she said as another guy handed her a shot, and she gulped it down.

Shit. I didn't have a license, and she knew it. I only had my driver's permit, but I had never gotten around to getting my license. As a college student, I couldn't afford a car yet and planned to get one when I got a real job. And there's no way my parents had time to teach me to drive since they were always working.

While I contemplated what to do, a guy approached me as I sipped on water.

"Let me buy you a drink, pretty lady," he said.

"No, thanks," I said. "I may need to drive today."

"Ah, got you," he said. Then he slowly veered away from me. No one wanted to party with someone who wasn't drinking. I was just a little too boring for this place, but someone needed to be the responsible one. Two hours being here was more than enough, and I wanted to leave. No guy here intrigued me enough to talk, and Lori was surrounded.

I grabbed her wrist and started tugging her towards the door.

"Noo, I'm not ready to leave!" she slurred, setting her glass on the bar counter on our way out.

"I know, but it's getting late," I said.

"You're just scared of your parents," she said snidely once we were outside. Anger rose in my chest, but I knew she was super drunk, and there was nothing to gain by fighting with her. I'd have a rational conversation with her tomorrow.

"No, I'm not," I said. "Let's get you to your stupid car."

"At least I have a car," she said. God , she was combative when she was drunk.

"But you're too drunk to drive it," I said. "Give me your keys."

She floundered as she dug into her purse and shakily handed it to me. I was going to have to drive, that was for sure. I would have to sleep at her place until she could drop me off tomorrow. I crashed at her place a few times before, so I didn't mind that. We were like sisters.

After making sure she was settled in the backseat, I hopped into the driver's seat. My heart pounded hard as I twisted the key into the ignition. Lori had shown me a couple of times how to drive, so it wasn't like I didn't have a clue of what I was doing. I wasn't one hundred percent confident, though.

"Keep your foot on the brake," said Lori, now more alert since her life was in potential danger in my hands.

I backed the car out, looking over my shoulder a million times. I didn't want to accidentally murder anyone tonight. For a split second, I wondered what would happen if I did. I shuddered with relief when I finally backed the car out of the parking lot and was on the road. I was driving way under the speed limit since there weren't many cars around.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," I said, trying to keep the car centered on the road.

"Thank goodness," sighed Lori. Through my rearview mirror, I saw her lean back and close her eyes. But looking at my rearview mirror for that couple of seconds was a big mistake. When I heard the sound of metal crashing and twisting, I snapped my gaze back.

I crashed into the stop sign. I quickly slammed on the brakes, and Lori flew forward, grabbing onto my seat.

"What the fuck?" she shouted, looking at the damaged sign on the ground.

I was panicking as I looked around. It was nighttime, and cars were still going down the road like nothing happened. Suddenly police sirens and a loud voice on the intercom sounded behind us for me to pull over.

"Shit," I said as I pulled over to the side of the road.

"We're in so much fucking trouble," said Lori.

The cop walked over to the car and knocked on my window. My finger was shaking as I pressed the button to roll the window down. He rested his large muscular arm on the frame of the window, and he was so tall that I couldn't see his face.

"Step out of your car, ma'am."

I unlocked the car and carefully stepped out, leaving the door open behind me with my hands raised in the air.

"Sorry about that stop sign. It won't happen again," I said shakily. The cop towered above me, his muscular frame was visible underneath his uniform- upper arms bulging from his vest. The thing that struck me the most was his eyes. The golden flecks in his iris made my heart pound faster, and adrenaline shot through me. I had never felt like this with any guy before.

Ever. And from my nervousness, I was sweating profusely, and the smell of strawberries was emanating from me. It was like someone had bathed me in strawberry shampoo. What the hell was happening to me?

"The stop sign will survive," he said with a hint of a hard smile. "I'm here to make sure everyone's okay. May I see your license?"

I went back into the car, and Lori was sitting there with wide eyes.

"He wants my freaking license," I whispered harshly to her as I pretended to rummage in the compartment.

"Oh fuck," muttered Lori.

After having wasted enough time pretending, I pulled back from the car, ready to confess.

"No license?" he inquired before I could speak.

I shook my head.