Margo's POV

A tear races down my cheek in solitude as I admire the benevolence reigning in the crisp atmosphere of my mind. Then Primus silently whispers amongst the leaves, sweeping over the countryside in a wave of autumn. I stand at the peak of the mountaintop, beholding the entirety of the farmland beneath my feet. I glance at the clouds sailing across the horizon as my fingertips reach for a grey cloud. The fog surrounds my parents house in a thick mist.

Primus closes a colossal gate to her mind, forcing me out of a garden frozen in time. It's apparent what Primus is after, even despite her love for our parents I can't seem to unlock an ounce of remorse. I know it's burrowed somewhere in my heart, but I can't find it on the surface. It's almost like this part of myself has chosen to forget all about my mother's embrace of steel and my father's warm smile. Instead, I want to embrace the anger pulsing through my veins as I think of my mother and her soft cries invading my eardrums with misery.

"Wow, the time has passed, and I still remember every inch of your framework," Gwendolyn muses, kicking through loose garbage. "and I have to say, welcome back to Rosewood Academy, Margo Kennedy. Gabriella, I would vocalize my gratitude if I wasn't knee-deep in your personal affairs, so either clean up this mess or take better care of your son. Then maybe Andre will finally call you his mother."

"I've tolerated your cruelty enough, and sweetheart you have no right to judge me for what kind of mother I am. Not after everything I've done for your family with Asher's case slipping through your fingers, and let's not even mention trying to finalize your divorce from David. It's been a long time coming, but I've always wondered who Gwendolyn would be the day no one compares her to gold. Then here you are planning a way to infiltrate your illegal narcotics into hospitals around the world? It's like your on a warpath to destroy everything because your daughter is gone." Gabriella says, fire consuming her as patience disappears from her posture.

Gwendolyn glances at her with a glimmer of excitement. "Oh, Gabriella, you haven't begun to withstand the pain of my remarks, but one of us has to be the civil one. After all, I know how Elijah used his fist rather than his words, so I choose to be different. I won't hit you, but think how easy it would be to tell Elijah his wife's back in town. How beautiful would that be a man uniting with his long lost wife after all these years? I think you're long overdue for more lessons in respect, but before you try to question my worth think about what Ralph Waldo Emerson said about treasure. The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit. Remember the liberty I gave you as a Donovan, and how I can easily take it away."

Gabriella withers into herself, snapping out of her trance as she blinks away a trail of tears. Gwendolyn steps around a stunned Gabriella, grabbing my face in her hands until she's glaring deep into my soul. I blink hard as Primus stares back at Gwendolyn with admiration sparkling in my irises. I close my eyes, trying to conceal the monster locked away in my heart, but she wars against me with every ounce of strength, forcing me to release her. Gwendolyn raises an eyebrow when I peek at her with contemplation flooding my face while pondering the mirage I saw carrying Asher into my room.

"If it wasn't for Andre last night," Gwendolyn says. "they couldn't know Asher was there, not when everything's so close to unraveling. I need you two to stay as far away from Goulding Manor as possible. The Founders are still there, and you kids are the last people they want to see. Their mercy is equivalent to their hypocrisy, and right now, they'll kill to have their hands on Juliet's boyfriend. The one that can recover everything they buried, and then there's you. Margo, you knew so much about Juliet they had to trap you inside your own mind."

"They gave me a dose of Mortem to scramble my memories because what I knew? I lost everything, and you're telling me they took away my life because I knew too much. They managed to destroy my mind all because they never wanted me to expose their lies. You know what, why not just kill me? Why not just let me die." I probe, focusing on Gwendolyn.

"Oh child, because I wouldn't let them. True, Mortem was the centerpiece, but it was never the objective. It can block out certain memories, so I suggested they erase your mind because a dead teenager is the last thing anyone wants on their hands. So imagine your mind being permanently erased by a drug, or recovering every thought you've ever lost. If administered with enough traces of Spiritus, a doctor will be able to invoke lost memories to the surface or erase them with the sound of his voice."

"Is that what happened the night Juliet disappeared? Did you let those bastards force me to let her die?" I say, my hands convulsing, recalling the bloody waters as my heart races at the blood on Asher's shirt.

"I tried to speak to you after you paddled back to shore in a boat with Asher unconscious. Whatever they gave you forced you to forget everything, even Juliet. The only question is, who said the command?" Her tone projects in darkness as I imagine her standing in the doorway, glancing at Asher with guilt surfacing in her mien.

The phantom from my vision fades while golden curls diminish as chestnut brown hair pales underneath sun-kissed blonde ringlets. Then Gwendolyn's powder blue blazer dances in my conscience while Asher drifts further asleep. Gwendolyn snaps her fingers inches away from my face, once again commanding my former self to gain control of the scattered remains of my mind. I try to solve the mystery of why I envisioned her daughter? Every solution to this mystery leaves me with more strange explanations, collapsing together like a puzzle, but it's too late as Primus peers into my conscience.

Gwendolyn smiles, beckoning me to follow her into the shadows as she strolls out of Gabriella's office. "I hope our last encounter didn't discourage you from realizing everything that's at stake here. I can't have you disclosing our plans to anyone, and especially not Gabriella. Luckily, she's not a threat just too self-righteous for her own good. It's a good thing her chain ends with Elijah Smith, but Gabriella's disobedience isn't why your here. I need to let you introduce yourself to one of my colleagues."

"I don't think it's safe for me to meet any more of your colleagues, especially when they're tried to kill me. Not to mention the crooked cop that's on your payroll," I mutter as she leads me up several flights of stairs, avoiding the cameras in each hallway.

"Elijah Smith isn't worthy of being my colleague. He's nothing more than a brute we use to send a message without getting our hands dirty. You can thank my husband for such an interesting introduction; all acted in the hopes of scaring me out of our house. This woman I'm about to introduce you to is no different; she's a snake, but whatever she asks, I need you to convince Asher and his friends to join you. It's vital they're with you every step of the way, and I know your all just children. But if anything happens then, I'm going to need all of you." Gwendolyn says, walking to the edge of the hallway, placing her index finger over her lips before entering the elevator as silence separates us.

The raven black elevator encased in mahogany rises to the twentieth floor, slowly revealing exquisite designs enveloped with marbled statues likened unto Gwendolyn's abode. I walk in strides next to Gwendolyn down a pathway paved in sophistication and decked with columns wrapped in ivory carvings, matching the pattern on the ceiling. We enter Gwendolyn's foyer arrayed in paintings blazing in the sunset with the tide approaching the shoreline. Her white gown attracts me to her purity as she holds the end of her dress in her hand while she walks into the water. Another portrait of her adjacent to the room shows her treading deeper into the water until it consumes half of her body.

Rest In Peace, Juliet. Primus whispers into the void.

Gwendolyn beckons me to enter her office as I admire the glossy mahogany wood finish coating the classical style desk with a golden imprint of the school's initials. A bust of a women's head with delicate features sits on her desk, with arched eyebrows and a complexing smile. I also notice a vase of Azaleas sitting on a coffee table in the corner where a woman takes in a breath as she admires them. Her hair cascades above her shoulders in waves as she turns around with a warm smile on her face. She leaves the flowers with curiosity glistening in her radiant eyes, but she seemed nothing like Gwendolyn's description.

"Well, aren't you a beautiful young lady," the woman exclaims, her lips curving into a bright smile. "and if your as smart as you are gorgeous, then Staten Island's lucky for your consideration. I'm sorry, I should probably introduce myself. Hello, I'm Lynn Torres, a neurosurgeon at Staten Island hospital, a fifth-year resident and a two-time recipient for discovering the effects of a new narcotic drug user's call Mortem."

"It's nice to meet you, Lynn," I say, my vision shifting as anger consumes me and my soul reconstructs into madness. "I'm Margo Kennedy, and I'm here to help direct you to all aspects of Rosewood Academy, even down to the family lineage. I'm guessing yours ends with Torres even though Gwendolyn tells me it started with Maddox. Asher's a great addition to Rosewood Academy. He's a little reckless, determined too but also trusting of the wrong people. He must've gotten that from you only women are naive enough to lie to themselves."

I'm aware of Lynn Torres's world, even her past life as a Maddox, and how dread seems to follow her wherever she travels underneath the sun. It started with her father's death and when her mother abandoned her to live on the heartless streets of New York City. Asher once told me Lynn was never satisfied with the stars in the nighttime, so she chased after the sun in hopes of uniting the daytime with the constellations. She never wanted peace on earth because she knew it was unattainable, so instead, she chose to love. Lynn aspired to work in a career where she could fight to save people's lives, but she didn't realize love also comes with sacrifice.

"Women aren't always naive for trusting...a man," Lynn interjects, walking to the end of Gwendolyn's desk as she turns a framed picture of Juliet posing next to her mother with an effortless smile. "sometimes, it's their own mother's that can lead them straight into destruction. It's ironic, no one ever figures it out until they're already dead, but we're not here to talk about the disappointments of our mothers or women that are a lot closer to us than we think. We're here because my husband and I agreed to offer the best and brightest students at Rosewood Academy a once in a lifetime offer at a mentorship program at Staten Island hospital."

"Let's get one thing straight," I say while my heart consumes in fire. "Gwendolyn's a lot of levels up from being a drug attic while my mother was a lighthouse, and far from being a naive woman. My mom was a Sunday school teacher, a woman of the Lord, and a mother to everyone she ever met. She could have been a mother figure to Asher, but now we'll never know because you didn't try to talk to her before you sent Frank. . ."

"A mentorship program at Staten Island hospital would be a Godsend for someone like you. Do you know how many years I spent trying to work my way through medical school? I grew up in a rundown apartment building with more drugs on the table than food. If ballet doesn't work out, then you'll have a second option. Anything that doesn't end with you back on the streets because if you think Gwendolyn won't discard you like a piece of garbage, then your wrong. And some people don't think it's wise to state such outrageous claims, especially ones you're not even supposed to remember unless you need another adjustment." Lynn challenges with a twisted smile as she turns, opening the door to leave.

HEY GUYS, HOW DID YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER? TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE OPENING PARAGRAPH IN THE COMMENT SECTION. THE NEXT TWO CHAPTERS WILL BE WRITTEN IN ASHER'S POINT OF VIEW SO PLEASE ENJOY!

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR READING AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL❤️!