Chapter 279

Christina's POV I woke up with a stuffy head, blocked nose, and the kind of hangover that makes you question your life choices. My head pounded like someone was using it for drum practice, my body ached, and my heart kept doing this weird jumpy thing. Sleep deprivation was a bitch. Hudson's text glowed on my phone screen. I didn't reply. I couldn't talk to him. Not until I sorted out the tornado in my head. Franklin was dead. My father was dead. I stared at the ceiling, trying to remember the last time we'd had a conversation that didn't involve him trying to manipulate me or squeeze something out of Hudson. The last time he looked at me with anything resembling fatherly affection. "He never treated us right," Akira growled inside my mind. "But he was still our father," I replied silently. Despite everything, despite all the years of comparing me to Beatrice, of making me feel I wasn't good enough, of trying to control my life... he was my father. My entire childhood had been spent try