Twenty-Six Delusions

Twenty-Six Delusions

At twenty-six, Zeda is officially out of the cage. After a decade locked away for the kind of violent, messy family tragedy that polite society prefers to pretend never happened, she is finally stepping back into the sun. She has her post-release life meticulously scripted: a trendy condo, a supportive circle of friends, and a foolproof plan to fake "normalcy" by pantomiming the very human emotions she's entirely incapable of actually feeling. Honestly, it's an award-winning performance.

Enter Amel. Intoxicating, complicated, and inconveniently attached to another woman, he is the ultimate, catastrophic distraction. Their connection is visceral, dangerous, and feels so much like fate it's practically insulting.

But playing house is exhausting, and Zeda's carefully curated reality is starting to glitch. She is dropping hours like bad habits. Her memories are fracturing into violent, dissociative blackouts. And then there is Monica-a terrifying, silent figure from the darkest corner of Zeda's childhood who has started casually appearing in the periphery of her new life. Apparently, some ghosts refuse to take the hint and stay buried.

As her glossy, "normal" world threatens to implode, Zeda realizes she is locked in a high-stakes psychological war with someone who knows exactly what she is capable of. To survive, she must outsmart a man who stupidly thinks he holds all the cards, confront the visceral horror of her own fractured mind, and remind everyone exactly how she earned the title of "the ward's favorite psycho."

Some girls keep diaries. Zeda writes traps.