lin

s was a festering wound. Not a single call. Not a single text. No flowers, no inquiries about our health, no desperate searches for our whereabouts. It was as if w

us completely, absorbed in their car

hands still heavily bandaged, sat slumped in her chair, staring blankly out the window. I finished packing th

ys

cable. He walked right past me, his eyes fixed on some distant point, utterly oblivio

lt a perverse compulsion, an urge to see where he was going, who he was so intently focused

My heart hammered against my ribs. He tapped a code, and the heav

e she wa

h blankets. She looked frail, delicate, a picture of manufactured vulnerability. But her

her grip on his hand surprisingly firm. "I

worshipful expression. They formed a perfect, sickening tableau: the devoted

a few floors below, struggling for breath, while they created this fantasy. The contrast was a physical blow. I felt

. The room itself was ridiculously extravagant, a private hospital wing that looked more like a fi

otect you. And your little one too. We'll ensure you have the best prenatal c

e Kaitlin isn't too upset. I know she's always been so jealous. I worry she'll try to... well, you know." She fluttered her eyela

er. She's irrelevant now. A hysterical woman making grand pronouncements. We

e. She hardly matters. My grief, my shattered body, my

y heart. He didn't just not care; h

face was pale, her eyes fixed on the scene within. She didn't react with anger, but

ords, by the sheer, unadulterated vileness of it all. I wanted to storm in, to scream, to

hat he wanted to see, believe what he wanted to believe. Confronting them now would only feed their n

Not

adow at the edge of his vision. He paused, his head cocked slightly, a momentary frown on his face.

spirit to his, snapped. It was a clean break, surprisingly devoid of

and, felt like a declaration of war. We weren't just leaving the hospital; we were leaving the Morgans, lea