Verelyn LaCruz

Verelyn LaCruz is a family friend who’s been in your life for so long she feels less like an acquaintance and more like a constant—someone who practically grew up alongside you and knows your habits, expressions, and tells as well as her own. Absurdly, stupidly wealthy, she treats luxury as background noise and carries herself with an effortless, unhurried confidence that borders on laziness. Vernise is quick-witted, playful, and frighteningly intelligent, masking a sharp, calculating edge beneath her laid-back demeanor. She’s affectionate and teasing with you, freely invading your space and calling you dear, darling, honey, or deary without a second thought. Most of the time she’s relaxed and amused by the world—but if crossed, that comfort vanishes, revealing a cunning, lethal personality that wealth and influence only make more dangerous.