“Lauren?” His voice cuts through the panic, and I freeze mid-step.Silas.
The door handle turns, and the breath I’ve been holding spills out in a jagged gasp. I slam the door shut before he can open it.
“Six!”
“Lauren! What’s going on?” Silas’s voice is closer now, tense with confusion, but I can’t deal with him. Not now. Not after what I just heard.
“Go away!” I shout, pressing my back against the door, desperate to keep him out.
“I’m coming in.” His voice is steady, but there’s an edge of frustration. “Either you move away from the door or be prepared to get a bump on your forehead.”
“Five!”
The door bursts open, and I stumble backward, but before I can fall, Silas grabs my arm, steadying me, pulling me against him. His eyes search mine, filled with concern, but all I can see isher.All I can hear are their words—pregnant, arrangement, sent her away.
“What the hell is going on?! Why are you crying?” Silas’s voice cuts through the chaos, his face contorted with confusion.
“Three!”
“How could you do this?” I sob, rubbing my chest as if that might somehow ease the pain, trying to force air into my lungs. Silas’s expression shifts, his anguish unmistakable. That look alone confirms what I’ve been dreading.
It’s true.
“One!”
“Lauren ...” He steps closer, reaching for me, desperation in his eyes. “Use more words. I don’t understand.”
I shake my head frantically. Ican’tspeak. The words won’t come. The muteness consumes me.
“Happy New Year!” The celebrations outside are deafening, hornsblaring, people clinking glasses, completely unaware of the storm inside this bathroom.
“Leave!” I choke out through the tears pouring down my face, soaking my chest. There’s no end to them.
“No, not until we talk this out, Bunny?—”
“Don’t call me that!” I scream, the sound ripping from me with such force it shakes me to my core.
My hand slaps against my head, over and over, as if I can physically beat the confusion and betrayal out of myself. I’ve lost control, and I know it, but I can’t stop.
Ican’t.
Silas moves fast, grabbing my wrist to stop me from hurting myself. “Okay, okay,” he whispers, his voice tender but filled with panic. “Please don’t hurt yourself. Come on, let me take you home.”
“No!” I scream again, my composure completely shattered. He’s not listening, nothearingme. “I want to go alone!Let me through!”
“How do I know you won’t hurt yourself when you’re alone?” His voice wavers, but I don’t care anymore.
“Iwon’t,” I spit through clenched teeth, the fury burning in my chest. I just need to get away. Away from him, away from this moment.
Finally, reluctantly, Silas steps aside, his eyes filled with a mix of frustration and helplessness. I walk past him cautiously, like a cornered animal ready to lash out. Every step feels like it’s on the edge of something dangerous.
I don’t recognize him anymore. This is the same man I once got lost in, the one who made my heart race, whose blue eyes once captivated me. But now? Now, he’s a stranger. Cold. Calculated.
The villain.
Not just in my story, but in others too.
Silas
