Chapter 1: The Suitcase
Jasmine Carter knew something was wrong before she even closed the front door.
The house was too quiet.
Usually, by four in the afternoon, the television would be playing in the living room, music would be drifting from Olivia’s bedroom upstairs, and Monica would be moving around the kitchen while talking loudly on the phone.
That afternoon, there was nothing.
Jasmine stepped inside and let her backpack slide from one shoulder.
“Dad?””
No answer.
Of course not.
Marcus was supposed to be in Atlanta until tomorrow.
Jasmine pushed the door shut.
Then she saw the suitcase.
It sat directly in the middle of the living room.
Her suitcase.
The large navy one her father had bought three years earlier for a family trip to Florida.
It was open.
Clothes had been stuffed inside carelessly.
Her jeans.
Sweaters.
School shirts.
Even the faded gray sweatshirt that had belonged to her mother.
Jasmine stopped breathing for a second.
Then she noticed Olivia.
Her sixteen-year-old stepsister was leaning casually against the staircase railing.
She had something dangling from one finger.
A key.
Jasmine recognized it immediately.
Her bedroom key.
“Why are my clothes in a suitcase?””
Olivia smiled.
“Because you’re leaving.””
Jasmine stared at her.
“What?””
Footsteps came from the kitchen.
Monica appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands with a dish towel as though this were an ordinary afternoon.
She looked completely calm.
“You’re going to stay somewhere else for a while.””
Jasmine’s heart started pounding.
“Where?””
“With family.””
“What family?””
Monica’s expression tightened.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.””
Jasmine looked from Monica to Olivia.
Olivia was still smiling.
Then Jasmine understood.
She ran upstairs.
“Jasmine!””
Monica called after her, but Jasmine didn’t stop.
She reached the second floor, rushed down the hallway, and grabbed her bedroom doorknob.
Locked.
She twisted it harder.
Nothing.
“Open my room!””
A laugh came from behind her.
Jasmine turned.
Olivia was standing halfway down the hallway.
“It’s my room now.””
For several seconds Jasmine genuinely thought she had misheard her.
“You already have a room.””
Olivia shrugged.
“I want yours.””
Jasmine looked at the door.
Her photographs were inside.
Her schoolwork.
Her mother’s belongings.
Seventeen years of her life were behind that door.
“You can’t just take my bedroom.””
“Apparently I can.””
“Give me the key.””
Olivia closed her fist around it.
“No.””
Jasmine stepped toward her.
“Olivia.””
“What?””
“Give me my key.””
Olivia held it behind her back.
Jasmine reached around her.
Olivia shoved her.
Jasmine stumbled backward and caught herself against the wall.
Shock flashed through her.
Then anger.
She stepped forward and pushed Olivia’s shoulder away when Olivia came toward her again.
That was all Monica needed to see.
“DON’T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!””
She rushed up the stairs.
“She pushed me first!”” Jasmine shouted.
Monica ignored her.
Olivia immediately changed expressions.
The smirk vanished.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Mom, she attacked me.””
Jasmine stared at her.
“You shoved me!””
Monica grabbed Jasmine’s phone from her hand.
“Give me that.””
“Hey!””
Monica marched downstairs and threw it onto the sofa.
“You’re done causing problems in this house.””
Jasmine followed her.
“Causing problems?””
“You’ve made everyone miserable for months.””
“How?””
Monica turned toward her.
“The attitude. The arguments. The constant drama with Olivia.””
“Because Olivia keeps—”
“Enough.””
Jasmine’s voice cracked.
“This is my house too.””
Monica looked straight at her.
“Not anymore.””
The words hit harder than the shove.
Jasmine stood beside the suitcase containing her life and felt something inside her collapse.
She thought of her father.
He had always said this would be her home.
After her mother died, he had promised Jasmine that no matter what changed, she would always have a place here.
Then Marcus married Monica.
At first, Monica had been kind.
Olivia had been too.
But gradually things changed.
Small things disappeared.
Arguments somehow became Jasmine’s fault.
Whenever Jasmine complained, Olivia cried.
Whenever Olivia cried, Monica defended her.
And Marcus?
Marcus worked.
He traveled.
He tried to keep peace.
Too often, keeping peace meant telling Jasmine to ignore things.
She had learned to stop complaining.
Now her belongings were in a suitcase.
Jasmine swallowed.
“Did Dad agree to this?””
Monica hesitated.
It lasted barely a second.
But Jasmine saw it.
“You didn’t tell him.””
“This is between the adults.””
“I’m calling him.””
“You don’t have your phone.””
Jasmine glanced toward the sofa.
Monica stepped between her and it.
Something cold moved through Jasmine.
This wasn’t discipline.
This was planned.
“You packed everything while I was at school.””
Monica said nothing.
“You took my phone.””
Still nothing.
“You locked me out of my bedroom.””
Olivia rolled her eyes.
“Stop acting like you’re homeless.””
Jasmine turned toward her.
“You deleted it, didn’t you?””
Olivia’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Jasmine had spent all day thinking about the conversation with her guidance counselor.
That morning, Mrs. Palmer had stopped her outside chemistry.
“Jasmine, why haven't you responded to the Hamilton Foundation?””
Jasmine had stared at her.
“What are you talking about?””
The scholarship.
The scholarship she had applied for six months earlier.
The scholarship worth up to $150,000.
Jasmine had been selected as a finalist.
An interview request had been emailed to her days ago.
But Jasmine had never seen it.
Now, looking at Olivia, a terrible possibility formed.
“What are you talking about?”” Monica asked.
Jasmine ignored her.
“You knew about my scholarship.””
Olivia folded her arms.
“You think everything is about you.””
“My email disappeared.””
“Maybe you deleted it.””
“I didn't.””
“Then maybe you're not as smart as everyone says.””
Jasmine stepped closer.
“What did you do?””
Suddenly, headlights swept across the living room window.
A car door slammed outside.
Monica froze.
Olivia looked toward the entrance.
Jasmine knew that engine.
Her heart jumped.
The front door opened.
Marcus Carter walked inside carrying a laptop bag.
“Surprise. Meeting got canceled, so I caught an earlier—”
He stopped.
His eyes landed on Jasmine.
Then the suitcase.
Then Monica.
Then Olivia.
His smile disappeared.
“What’s happening?””
Monica answered immediately.
“Jasmine attacked Olivia.””
Olivia began crying.
“She shoved me.””
Marcus looked at Olivia.
Then Jasmine.
But this time, he didn’t immediately ask Jasmine to explain herself.
He pointed toward the suitcase.
“Why is her suitcase packed?””
Silence.
Marcus slowly set his laptop bag down.
“I asked a question.””
Jasmine’s eyes filled.
“They’re kicking me out.””
Marcus stared at her.
Then he turned toward his wife.
May you like
“You’re doing what?””
And for the first time that afternoon, Monica looked afraid.
