[Meade Lake 02] • Stones Unturned

"We choose family, always."

As the only child of Georgia’s leading tech mogul, that motto has been our way of life for as long as I can remember. I’ve been groomed and primed to take over his role since I was fifteen. Ever the dutiful daughter, I’ve done everything to stick to the plan, even if the plan was never what I actually wanted.

But people lie. Stories change. Entire family histories are rewritten.

When tall, dark, and devastatingly handsome Derrick Thomas shows up with a photograph that shatters my world, I find myself following him 700 miles north to Meade Lake—the one place that might help me find answers.

Drowning in lies, I cling to Derrick’s every word, desperate for the truth. And somewhere along the way, I end up clinging to him, too.

Suddenly, I feel a change in the wind, a crack in all those concrete plans that were laid for me ever so carefully.

“We choose family, always.”

But after I find out what they’ve done, I realize that family isn’t always flesh and blood. Sometimes, family can be strangers. Sometimes, strangers can be family.

I just have to choose which one I want to call mine.