Kierra leaned over the rail of her new yacht as she let her teardrops become part of the ocean. Sorrow and shame shredded her insides as Marco’s words ran through her head on replay. “I am happy you got what you always wanted. I feel you would never feel satisfied though.”  “Oh, ma’am,” her server, ...

Kierra never felt so conflicted in her life. “Maybe it is a just coincidence. Emails can be scheduled,” she thought as she held up the necklace. “There is no way it actually worked.” She put it down and reread the email again. TO: Kierra.Bryne@gmail.com FROM: cgreen@greenandassociates.com SUBJECT: Re: Submission DATE: 04-15-2020 Ms. Bryne,Thanks for your ...

“I can’t believe you gave it to her,” Stanley fussed over the phone. “It’ll ruin her, Ma!” “It won’t. Yes, it will change her and she might struggle a bit,” Alayne replied, “but it will strengthen her.” “How do you know for sure?” “I just hold on… I hold on to what I believe is ...

“I won’t let your power destroy the innocence of another Bryne woman,” Alayne’s eighteen-year-old granddaughter Nora snarled as she held up the necklace before locking it away in a dark brown wooden jewelry box under the floorboards by her dresser. Twenty-five years passed before the necklace crossed Nora’s mind again. She caught her husband cheating ...

Tilly, Nora’s cinnamon-colored bobtailed cat, abruptly woke Nora up by tipping her half-empty wineglass off the coffee table. “Damn cat,” Nora fussed as she got up from her recliner. She checked her cellphone before she cleaned up the mess. She groaned when she saw she had no new notifications. “Why did she have to fucking ...

“Pathetic.” Kierra glared at her own reflection in the bathroom once she dried her face with a hand towel. The rocking and nausea have settled, but she could still taste the bitterness of her regrets. She allowed her mind to drift as she brushed her teeth. Kierra giggled as Marco pulled her back into bed ...