hollow, an empty vessel adrift in a sea of pain. I blinked, trying to clear the fog from my mind, and my gaze drifted to the cei

ntered the room. "You're a

as raw, dry. I just managed a rasp

y to be alive, actually. For a while there, we were worried." She paused, her gaze softening. "You're in a private room. W

d my eyes, a fresh wave of pain, emotional this time, washing ov

the window, I could see bare tree branches, heavy with fresh snow, bending unde

n, Ms. Delaney?" she asked, her voice kindly. "Do you have

not from here. And no, I don't really have family here." I paused, a sud

asked, s

everything about this place." A deep, unwavering resolve settled in my heart

mes, a fresh start is exactly what you need." She paused at the door. "Your partner... Mr. Rodgers... he asked me to give you a message. He said he

g, he chose them. A bitter, ironic laugh caught in my throat. I felt nothing. No anger, n

of notifications flashed across the screen. Missed calls from Carter

know you were pregnant. Please, tell

without replying. Th

came over me. I'll make it right, I swear. We'll get married. We

pain was just "sadness." He couldn't even comprehend the depth of the betrayal,

message from Carter. Then, I blocked his number. And Carmen's. And anyone else

earliest flight to

what I'd already endured. I swung my legs off the bed, my muscles stiff and weak, but my resolve iron-clad. I g

once a place of fear, now represented a prison I had to escape. I pushed through the automatic door

acks of my broken past. Aspen, you were too col