Chapter 21

Jace chose a different approach, which was even more suffocating. He stopped sending lavish gifts and started acting like the devoted one. Every day, he showed up at Avery's office entrance or outside her apartment with a lunch that he claimed he'd cooked himself. He didn't shout anymore. He just stood there, looking at her as if she were the one who had wronged him. One evening, after she had ignored him completely, he drove his fist into a concrete wall. Blood burst across his knuckles. He walked to her car window with his hand still dripping and rasped, "Avery, will you look at me if I'm like this? Just once..." Sitting in the car, Avery felt a wave of nausea rise as she watched Jace's frantic display. She immediately locked the car doors and called the police. To her, his so-called devotion was even worse than his old swagger. It felt like emotional blackmail and psychological torment. Their parents had finally had enough. Julian and Jace had turned against each other over