11
KIERA
Fuck,I needed this.
I tipped my head back into the warm water, peony-scented suds caressing my body before swirling down the drain. It almost felt wrong using up the amber bottles of custom bath products, but the alternative — walking around smelling like day-old sweat and vodka and stress — didn’t seem pleasant for anyone.
God, they must think I’m so gross.
I pumped more soap into my palm absentmindedly, staring at it in my palm before washing it down the drain, unlathered.
I shouldn’t care what they think — I don’t.
Still, I lingered in the shower a bit longer, letting hot water run down my achey muscles, careful per Leo’s instructions to avoid soaking my wound. I didn’t want to go downstairs — downstairs meant leaving, and I still didn’t know where I was going next. This was the first break I’d had in… ever.
But good things never lasted — they just made everything else taste more bitter.
I should have known better than to freak out on Gabriel. Obviously he was an asshole, and obviously I wanted to leavehim, but I could have at leasttriedto do that without blowing up my entire life.
Now, it wasn’t just my relationship in shambles — it was my finances, my home, my family. When my rent increased last year, he’d insisted I move into the highrise with him. He wouldn’t take a dime for rent, asking me to cook and clean for him instead.
I’d thought it was a generous arrangement — instead of scraping by week to week, I might be able to save and buy a place of my own one day.
That hope was quickly dashed when my mom came knocking for money. Saving as much as I was on rent, it felt wrong to deny her pleas for help. She was horrible, but she was still my mother.
I should have seen that one coming, too — “a month or two’s rent” while she looked for a job quickly spiralled into utilities and groceries and pocket money for the better part of a year. I’d become Gabe’s live-in maid and secretary to bankroll her lifestyle, and I didn’t have a goddamn penny to show for it all.
He said I shouldn’t have to shoulder it all alone. And I’d been stupid enough — tired enough — to believe him. Gabe had strategically placed himself at the hub of my life, promising he wanted to make things easier for me. But nothing was ever easy with him — nothing was ever enough.
Really, all he’d ever wanted was a prize. Once he had me, he quickly grew bored. And boredom made Gabriel mean.
I could already picture him storming around the apartment throwing a tantrum. The few things I’d saved up to buy myself were probably out on the street by now, or destroyed in his fit of rage.
My shoulders tensed against the hot water. My little outburst would send me straight back to square one. I’d have to go to my mom for help. Or worse — grovel for Gabriel’s forgiveness.
No.I cringed, turning to face the water.Neither of those things are options.
I’d done plenty of hard things before. And I could figure out a way to do it again — to rebuild myself without him.
It would’ve been a lot easier to do that with somewhere soft to land, but there was no point getting stuck on the fact that there was room here. Clearly Dom had the type of money that excised sympathy along with struggle. She wouldn’t understand what it was like to swallow pride for pay or to live under the thumb of a man who liked to watch you writhe.
Rich assholes like her saw people like me as leeches. I should know — Gabe felt exactly the same.
Fuck that.
I twisted the tap, stopping the flow of water all at once. Wallowing in pity wouldn’t save me — that, as always, was a job reserved for me.
I ran through the gameplan as I toweled off my hair.Get dressed, go downstairs, and ask for a ride to the nearest Library.They’d have resources — computers, bathrooms, a directory of potential next stops.
But I’d hardly wicked the moisture from my hair when a door slammed downstairs, punctuated by thundering footsteps and a muffled shout: “Do I have to drag her out myself?”
12
KIERA
I ran across my room,grabbing the same shirt and pants that had been left for me that morning. Grabbing the knob, I slowly peeled the door open, desperate to hear what Dom was screaming about downstairs.
Something had gotten her panties in a twist — not that it seemed all that hard to do.
