This body is no longer mine, it’s a crime scene and a graveyard—a living monument to everything they stole, every scar they left behind, and every piece of me that never made it back.
But this suffering I deserve to carry because I allowed it. I chose to stay. I cluelessly and willingly fell into his trap like a lamb scenting the slaughterhouse and calling it my home.
My stupid trust wove the noose, and my naive love rooted the tree in which I stood beneath, never realizing I was offering my own heart to the hangman.
The only way to make this right is to disappear and end it. To let my soul unravel and drift toward the only pure thing I have ever touched in this cursed life.
My baby is waiting somewhere beyond this hell, innocent and untouched by the monsters I brought it to.
I need to die—not as escape, but as self-punishment. Just a final, quiet apology to the child whose heartbeat I failed to protect.
With a hollow look in my eyes, I snatch the pills off the counter and twist the lid off. While staring at myself, I pour a generous amount in my scarred hand.
Lifting one, I push it down the back of my throat before swallowing it dry.
Thenanother.
Thenanother.
Suddenly, a loud knock rattles the door, the handle twisting violently. The noise startles me, and the bottle slips from my grasp, pills scattering across the floor, skittering in every direction.
“Blaire!”
Law’s voice booms from the other side of the door.
Shit. He can’t see me doing this—he’ll steal that right away from me as well.
My heart lurches into my throat as I drop to my knees, frantically gathering them while his pounding continues.
“BLAIRE!”
“Just a minute!”
My hands shake so badly I can barely close my fingers around them. I scoop up as many as I can find and shove them back into the bottle, twisting the lid on.
The banging grows louder, then the entire door shudders from Law slamming his shoulder into it. A sharp crack splits through the room as the lock finally begins to give way.
Panic surges through me as I place the pills into the cabinet, and just as the lock finally gives way, and the door bursts open, I snatch a black towel from the rail to cover the front of my naked body.
Keeping my eyes lowered, I wrap it around myself, but the weight of his glare is enough to make every muscle in my body ache.
He scans the bathroom, and my pulse spikes. When his gaze lands on something on the floor, my eyes flutter shut instinctively, my body bracing for the blow that never comes.
“We’re expecting visitors for dinner.” He asserts and my stomach twists. “Get yourself looking classy.”
I nod silently and go to slip past him, anything to get away from his overwhelming presence. But he steps directly into my path, and my face collides with his hard chest.
Immediately freezing on the spot, my eyes slowly trail upward until my head tilts back and they find his.
His dark gaze drags over mine, slow and predatory, like a shark circling blood in the water, hunting for the flicker of fear he craves.
His hands rise, fingers sliding beneath the bust of my towel, and my body locks rigid, every muscle screaming in protest as he yanks the fabric open in one brutal tug.
Then, his feral eyes drop instantly, seemingly devouring my heaving breasts.
He steps forward, crowding me against the wall, his mouth ghosting over mine.
“I can’t get it out of my sick head, you know?” The heat from his mouth slithers over my lips, reeking of whiskey and something darker.
