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Laia unbuckles her seatbelt and looks through the rear window, tense.

"Switch seats with me. The police are going to come, and if they breathalyze you—which they absolutely will—you're going to fail. Come on, damn it, move."

Claudia stares at her, unable to process what she's saying, because all she can see is the blood dripping from Laia's nose and her mind has locked onto that one thing.

"Claudia. Move," Laia says, grabbing her by the shoulder and shaking her.

She moves on autopilot—opens the car door, walks around to the other side—while Laia slides across to the driver's seat and presses a hand to her ribs for a moment once she gets settled and adjusts the seat to her height. Claudia sits down beside her and stares at her as Laia closes the door, and when it sinks in that even hurt, Laia is thinking about protecting her, guilt rolls over her like a truck running her down.

"Laia—"

"Not now." Laia leans back against the seat and closes her eyes, and Claudia watches her chin and her hands tremble from the shock—a shock they could have avoided if Claudia hadn't been so stubborn and had just listened to her.

She's about to open her mouth when they hear sirens getting closer.

"I was driving. I got distracted and we went off the road, okay?" Laia says, looking at her while the blood dries on her chin.

Claudia nods like a robot, feeling like her parents are right—that she isn't capable of doing anything without ruining it, that all she knows how to do is make stupid decisions.

They leave the ER at three in the morning. Fortunately, Laia only has a bruised rib and a cotton plug in her nose that has already stopped bleeding. Claudia has a small lump on her head from the impact, but the pain is nothing compared to what she feels inside—like she's been torn open and there's no way to put it back together.

Chapter 21

Claudia stands still in the pressing section with her eyes fixed on the hallway because she's seen Laia walk by with Irene on their rounds, and she's waiting for her to come through here—she needs to stay alert so she doesn't give her the chance to raise a hand in a wave and keep walking. The section supervisor is watching her out of the corner of her eye, but the poor woman doesn't dare say anything to her, because even though Claudia is just another worker, everyone knows she's Elvira's niece.

Finally free of the floor manager, Laia walks slowly down Claudia's aisle, so Claudia steps around her pressing board and goes out to meet her without caring that every worker in the room is watching.

"How are you?" she asks, her expression still unsettled, studying Laia's nose carefully, as if a wound she missed last night might suddenly appear.

When they left the hospital she paid for Laia's taxi and took another one back to her apartment, stood under a long shower, and didn't get into bed until Laia texted her saying she'd made it home. After that she just lay there with her eyes open and her mind spinning like a blender, unable to sleep until her alarm went off at six, and she got up, made herself a double espresso, and came to work.

"Okay. My side hurts a little from the impact, but nothing I can't handle."

Claudia stays still, her amber eyes fixed on Laia's ribs, not knowing what to say, because an apology doesn't feel like enough.

"And you? How's your head?"

Elvira's niece touches the bump on her head, hidden under her hair, and doesn't flinch even though pressing it has made her see stars.

"Not too bad. It'll heal in a few days."

She's lying, because she's anything but fine. Her face is an ashy shade, the dark circles under her eyes are enormous, and her voice is unsteady, because inside she's falling apart and she can't shake the image of Laia lifting her head away from the airbag, her face covered in blood. She can't stop thinking that it was her fault—that her stupid outburst, that wounded pride of hers, caused an accident that could have been avoided if she hadn't been so irrational.

"Did you manage to sleep?" Laia asks.

"Not much. Actually, nothing. You?"

"Me neither."

"I'm sorry." Claudia's voice comes out low and thin.

"It's not your fault I didn't sleep."

"Isn't it?" Claudia tilts her head and raises her eyebrows.

"It was an accident. It's nobody's fault."

Claudia's eyes stay fixed on hers. She doesn't feel that way, and she's grateful that Laia is being so generous.