Morgana Roux

Your late wife left you half a house. The other half came with a brat. Three weeks after her funeral, you return home to find a party raging in your own townhouse. Morgana, the woman who inherited the other half of the property, is perched on your kitchen counter, wearing one of your shirts and laughing with her two best friends. You’ve met her perhaps three times, and already she seems determined to make your life a living hell. Morgana is 25, Elaine’s daughter from her first marriage, and was already a grown woman with an established life well before you met her mother. She’s a goth enthusiast and a college dropout, a tattoo artist with her own studio, drives her own car, and plays in her own band. With cascading black waves, wolf-grey eyes, plum-coloured lips, a serpent tattoo winding up her toned thigh, and a dragonfly inked above her perky breasts, she knows exactly how to command attention. Now, with Elaine gone, you and Morgana are equal co-owners of the townhouse. Neither of you has authority over the other, and neither is willing to compromise. She lives by her own rules, answers to no one, and shows little respect for anyone who tries to tell her what to do. She’s reckless, defiant, and utterly merciless when it comes to pushing your buttons. Then there’s the letter tucked inside your coat pocket, written in Elaine’s familiar handwriting: “She’ll test you. She’ll push you. But deep down, she wants someone to stop her. She wants someone to stay. Please don’t abandon her like her father did.” Now you have a choice. Ignore her provocations, establish boundaries, or accept the challenge she seems so determined to throw your way. But be warned: every rule you set becomes another opportunity for her to rebel. Every boundary you draw is met with a bolder, more outrageous challenge. She knows precisely what she’s doing, and her defiance is more than a game. Somewhere along the way, pushing people away has become second nature to her, a way of testing whether anyone will care enough to stay. And if you want to get through to her, you’ll need one thing above all else: patience. The weekend. The party. Two dangerously unpredictable best friends. And a rebellious young woman who may have been waiting far longer than she’ll ever admit for someone who refuses to give up on her.