The Last Party

“The truth of the matter was, a future with Leewood was a fantasy that couldn’t happen—not with Grant and Sophie in the picture. I stepped off the machine and grabbed my towel from the hook, my heart racing as I wiped down my face and neck.”

“There was something very dangerous about a woman with nothing to lose.”

“mature beyond her years and extremely intelligent. She probably had to have been, the lack of parenting requiring her to fend for herself from an early age.”

“It’s a theory I have. That people don’t change; sometimes their mask slips off and you see the real person they are.” He tapped on the mug shot. “The monster behind the mask.” Sometimes it’s not the people that change. It’s the mask that falls off. “This is your personal theory?” I asked. He shrugged. “Not exactly. It’s something they say about narcissists. It can also be applied to violent individuals.” Sometimes it’s not the people that change. It’s the mask that falls off. “So”

“field”

“wasn’t a surprise. If anyone knew the power of an adult’s dominance”

“I had some great details. I had Sophie and her piles of preteen friends. I even had her birthday, coming up in a few months. Her twelfth. Too many conveniences for it not to be fate.”

“She would need to lose her meekness if she was ever going to succeed in life. That was one thing I’d never been. At birth, I’d come out swinging.”

“Mortui vivos docent. The dead teach the living.”

“If there’s something you want in life, you need to put yourself in a position to take it,”

“It was like falling down a well of hell, one where no one could reach you, no one could hear you screaming, no one understood. That’s what I would go through if you passed.”

“people don’t change; sometimes their mask slips off and you see the real person they are.”

“I think anyone could kill someone if they’re put in the right situation,”

“Your feelings are never stupid. Actually, our feelings can be a very accurate compass to follow. Human intuition is a very powerful thing.”

“and I’m smart enough to realize that I should keep that knowledge to myself.”

“As if I’d known she would survive.”

“And we all have biases on our perspectives. Most of the time we can’t even see our own biases. Some of them were built decades ago. Some of them were created more recently, as a result of trauma or circumstance.”

“Our scars are never ugly. They are proof of what we’ve been through. Truth be told, they can be the most beautiful parts of us, if we learn to love them.”

“can see how much she enjoys acting—but it’s not really acting. Like Dad says, it’s lying. She lies and I like to lie too, so why not get paid for it and become famous and marry a movie star while you’re at it?”

“Grant was very, very sweet. But “sweet” had never gotten anyone’s panties wet.”

“There was only one Leewood Folcrum. Even if I wasn’t the monster they thought I was.”

“Maybe we’re all just psychopaths waiting for our trigger. Or maybe you killed earlier in life and no one ever caught you.”

“Too many conveniences for it not to be fate.”

“Too bad I couldn’t get rid of them both. Clear the deck and start fresh with just two cards: Leewood Folcrum and me.”

“The truth of the matter was, a future with Leewood was a fantasy that couldn’t happen—not with Grant and Sophie in the picture.”

“The hope was what got you through the agony.”

“The crooked smile and emotional damage, I got from my father.”

“learned a while ago that anticipation and hope were half of the enjoyment of life. Maybe this was the week that she’d write”

“Everyone was beaming—everyone except for my husband, who glared at me, his face dark with anger.”

“she told me that it was better to be famous for doing something rather than being someone.”