“Oh my god, Kate!” Grace gasped in shock when she saw me. I could only guess how terrible I looked after the day I’d had, but one thing was certain—I felt even worse.
Fresh tears turned Grace into a blurry silhouette. I was exhausted and drained, and the only thing keeping me upright was a pain that refused to let me rest. It had settled deep in my chest, different from the grief I’d felt after my mum’s death. This pain was more consuming, because my heart was torn—by my love and worry for Henry and the overwhelming, unshakeable sense of his betrayal.
“What happened?” Grace asked, her voice soft and compassionate.
I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a whimper that barely sounded human, as if I were a wounded animal. And like a wounded animal, I fell. Grace caught me, pulling me into a firm embrace. My arms hung limply at my sides—I didn’t have the strength to lift them and hug her back. I buried my face in her shoulder and gave in to my tears once again.
57
Did Their Love Crumble Under Pressure? Insiders Claim Kate Hamilton No Longer Works for The Darlington.
INsiderheadline
Kate
The days and nights that followed were a blur. The world beyond Grace’s bedroom ceased to exist. Everything had become meaningless—nothing made sense anymore to my broken heart. As much as Henry meant to me, I still couldn’t be with him. My heart rebelled against this truth, while my mind tried to accept it. It was an exhausting struggle, one I could only lose, and it drained me of every last bit of strength.
Grace kept me company every free moment she had, and I didn’t know what I would have done without her. We didn’t talk much—mostly, we sat in silence on her bed, watching anime. I couldn’t have recounted the plots afterwards even if my life had depended on it. My thoughts were everywhere and nowhere, inevitably circling back to Henry. I wondered how he was doing and what he was up to. Had he stopped taking the Vitalyn as he had promised? Or was he still on it now that I was gone? Had Loganspoken to him? If so, how had Henry reacted to me ratting him out to his brother?
I had so many questions, and I would probably never get an answer to any of them. Not only had I blocked Henry’s number, but I had also deleted him entirely from my phone to stop myself from messaging or calling him in a moment of weakness. And unfortunately, there were far too many of those moments. Grace had assured me that it would get better, but the pain and longing seemed to grow worse with every passing day. I missed being close to Henry. I missed his voice and his laughter. I missed the way he had looked at me and held me in his arms at night. But most of all, I missed the unwavering sense of safety and comfort he had given me. Now it felt as if I were losing my way all over again, sliding back into an abyss he had only just helped me escape.
I poked my head cautiously through the doorway and glanced left and right. The corridor outside Grace’s room was empty. Unmelodious piano playing drifted from her brother’s room, but otherwise it was quiet in the apartment. The Claymores had been nothing but welcoming and understanding over the past few days, but I wasn’t in the mood for small talk, so I did my best to avoid Grace’s parents. I didn’t always succeed, but often enough.
I crept quietly to the kitchen to find a snack. I’d had no appetite in the first few days after the breakup; though Grace had kept forcing me to eat a little, my stomach had been as paralysed as my body—most of the time, eating had just made me feel nauseous. But now, after about a week, my appetite was slowly starting to return.
I entered the kitchen, where Amy was sitting at the table. Her blond hair was tied up in a bun, and she was hunched over hermedical textbooks, a marker pen in hand and a chaotic sea of notes surrounding her. She looked up at the sound of my footsteps and gave me a faint smile.
Amy knew I’d broken up with Henry, but she didn’t know any details. I had only shared them with Grace, who was under strict instructions to keep them secret. The Darlington didn’t need another scandal. If the press ever found out about Henry’s drug problem, it would probably mark the end of the hotel.
I returned Amy’s smile. “How’s it going?”
She grimaced. “Don’t ask.”
“That bad?”
“I’m never going to pass this exam,” she said with a groan and dropped her head onto the book open before her. “What was I thinking, studying medicine? Couldn’t I have picked an easier course? Business management? Communications?”
I patted her shoulder and glanced at the notes scattered across the table. They were filled with Latin words that meant nothing to me.
“You can do it. And if not, you can always switch to business management.”
She groaned. “But I don’t want to study business management.”
“You won’t have to. You’ve got this,” I reassured her. For the first time in days, I felt like myself again. It was the first proper conversation I’d had in a long time. “When are your exams?”
“In January.”
“So you’ve still got a few weeks. I don’t know much about medicine, but if you need help, let me know. I can test you or something.”
Amy smiled. “Thanks. I might take you up on that.”
I nodded, then pulled out the ingredients for a sandwich from the fridge. As I slipped two slices of bread into the toaster, I couldn’thelp but think about Henry’s and my first night at the hotel—how he had cooked for me and made me toast with tofu scramble, as if taking care of me was the most natural thing in the world.
He was such a kind, thoughtful, and caring person that it was hard to see him as a drug addict—but that’s exactly what he was.
I turned to Amy with a sigh. She had already returned to one of her medical textbooks.
“Can I ask you something?”
