I force a smile, pushing down the dread that’s been building in my stomach as we get closer to the time I can’t avoid: telling Maisie that I’m going away. Again.
“Which nurse?” I ask. “There are at least three nurses here with funny walks.”
Maisie dissolves into fresh giggles, and I store the sound away like a light I can pull out later when the darkness gets too thick.
Would Eva still demand I leave if she could understand the sacrifice she’s asking me to make? If she could witness this miracle she bought and paid for, see the joy in Maisie’s face, would she have any second thoughts about dragging me back to her castle?
The answer comes immediately. Of course she wouldn’t care. Eva Novak is a complete megabitch who doesn’t care about anyone’s happiness but her own.
And I can’t be stupid enough,naiveenough, to let myself believe that she has anything resembling a heart beneath all that designer armor.
“Honey,” I begin carefully, with a glance at Adrian, who gives a brief nod. It’s time we told her. “We need to talk to you about something.”
Slowly, Maisie’s smile dies as she takes in my face. “What is it?”
Later, in our cramped apartment that suddenly feels more like home than it has in months, Adrian helps me pack my single suitcase. It feels like preparing for execution.
We pack in silence for the most part, and I’m grateful for that. But the closer we get to completion, the more agitated Adrian seems.
He doesn’t want me to go. After Maisie’s operation, he argued, why should I? It’s not like Eva Novak can rip the heart out of Maisie’s chest for reparation.
The very image of it made me wince.
Besides, it’s not Maisie’s heart I think Eva wants to get her claws into. It’s mine. What fun is owning and humiliating someone when they won’t give over every last piece of themselves? I might be naive, but I already learned that much in my time with her.
She’s a big black hole of neediness that will never be filled, but she’ll keep trying. Keep taking, keep swallowing people, countries, whole worlds in the pursuit of fulfilment.
“You’ll check in every day,” Adrian says, folding one of my sweaters. His voice is steady, but I can see the tightness in his jaw, the way his eyes can’t settle on one thing.
I roll up and throw a pair of jeans into the bag forcefully, channeling my frustration into physical action. “I will. And if Maisie has any issues, or anything feels off—anything—you call me immediately.”
“I will,” Adrian promises, meeting my eyes with the kind of solemn certainty that makes my throat tight. “And Robin? If you need to come home—if things get really bad—just come home. Maisie is better. That’s all we need for now. We’ll figure out everything else.”
As if there are unlimited options. But I nod anyway, because Adrian needs to believe it.
The goodbye at the hospital is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Maisie hugs me fiercely, her thin arms stronger than they’ve been in weeks. I breathe her in, my heart beating fast. The doctors have suggested she can go home at the end of this week, but I didn’t think Eva would let me get away with asking for that extra time.
“You’re coming back, right?” Maisie whispers against my shoulder.
My throat tightens. “Of course I am, honey. It’s just for a little while.”
We told her the same story Eva floated when she first barged in: that I’ve been called back to the reality show for another chance to win.
Maisie pulls back to study my face, looking for lies, for the cracks in my confidence that I’m trying so hard to hide. I’m pretty sure she can tell something isn’t right. But finally, she gives me a brave little smile that just about shatters what’s left of my composure.
“Okay. But don’t be gone too long. Adrian’s cooking is terrible.”
“Hey!” Adrian protests from across the room, but he’s forcing a smile, too.
I kiss her forehead and tell myself to let go, even though every instinct I have is screaming at me to stay. To protect her. To never let her out of my sight again.
But I’ve learned that sometimes love means walking away. Sacrificing yourself so the people you care about can live.
Outside the hospital, Eva waits by a sleek black car, Leon hulking over her and looking this way and that as though there might be a sniper waiting somewhere around the hospital. I give a quick shiver as I think of Paris, of the sudden shock as Leon bundled Eva back into the car and dived in after her.
I was afraid for her.
