Prologue – Camille

Rennes, France, November 1st, 2008

“The universe has this strange way of showing you the path. It’s up to you to recognize the signs and listen to them. Or not.”

For as long as I could remember, my grandmother had a saying for everything. But this one echoed in my mind with particular force at that exact moment.

I had apparently ignored every single message the universe had tried to send me over the past few months, but the one it delivered today couldn’t have been clearer.

Standing there in the middle of the restaurant where my mother and I were supposed to have a quiet dinner together, I had absolutely no way of pretending I didn’t understand what fate was trying to tell me.

Raphaël was right there, in front of me, and I was pretty sure the look on his face was a perfect reflection of mine.

Surprise. Shock. And then horror.

Was I dreaming? A nightmare?

Had I committed some crime, either in this life or another, to deserve this level of cosmic torment?

Everything was suddenly a mess of doubts and questions in my head, but like far too often, life wasn’t going to grant me one last breath before shoving my head under water.

“Do you two know each other?” asked the man I had met only a few minutes earlier.

Trapped until now in Raphaël’s golden stare, my eyes snapped toward the new boyfriend my mother was proudly introducing to me.

But no sound came out of my mouth.

Still reeling from the reality of what was happening, I couldn’t form a single coherent sentence. Not that my thoughts were any more coherent than my speech.

I was stunned, and all I could focus on were the similarities I suddenly noticed between the boy who had made my heart race and the man I was now understanding to be his father.

His father.

Shit. Shit. SHIT.

Out of everyone living in the city of Rennes, hell, in the entire country, my mother had chosen Raphaël’s father.

Life had a sick sense of irony.

I had ignored the signs, shrugged off my friends’ advice, dismissed Lia’s threats, and for what?

If I had listened, I wouldn’t be here. If I had listened, I wouldn’t be standing frozen like an idiot, finally realizing I should have kept a lot more distance from the second boy who had completed this incredibly messed-up love triangle.

“Camille’s my swim partner,” Raphaël eventually admitted, breaking the silence that had been dragging on.

“That’s wonderful!” my mother exclaimed. “I knew you went to the same school, but I didn’t know you were in the same class. That makes introductions so much easier, doesn’t it, Marc?”

“It certainly does. I understand the surprised looks on your faces a bit better now,” Marc said in a tone I found suspicious.

Had he figured it out? Could he see through the mask I was desperately trying to hold together?

If so, I needed to fix that immediately. Doubts would only make everything worse.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to whisper, trying to sound remorseful. “I think I’m still in shock from everything I just learned.”

“This is all my fault,” my mother cut in before I could finish my improvised speech. “I only just told her about us, and now she’s discovering that her classmate is your son. It’s not every day you get a stepfather, a stepbrother, and a stepsister as a birthday present,” she added with a laugh.

My brain froze on one particular word.

Stepbrother.

I had focused on the idea of my mother having a new boyfriend without really processing what that meant.

If our parents were together, Raphaël and I would become brother and sister, well, half, but honestly, at this point, did the distinction even matter?

A wave of nausea rolled through me.

Okay, universe.

Message loud and clear.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hello,

I hope you’re all doing well ❤️

As some of you may have noticed, the first version of Book 2 was deleted a few weeks ago. The reason was simple: I didn’t like what I was writing, at least not all of it, and my brain was completely stuck.

Writing can be a complicated process, and while working on the first book, I learned that whenever I feel blocked, it usually means I’m not going in the right direction. I also felt like a few key pieces of information were missing.

So today, I’m starting fresh with a new prologue, and the first chapter will be coming in the next few days 😊

I hope you’ll enjoy this new version of the story ❤️