ra

ater had blossomed into severe pneumonia. She was fragile, tethered to a web of tubes and mon

it felt like I was still at the bottom of that dark water. This was m

She looked at me, her gaze clea

t he was. I just hoped... I was wrong." She squeezed my hand, a flicker of her old stren

llar suit against the backdrop of peeling paint and scuffed linoleum floors. He carrie

a formality, hollow and cold. His gaze held no remorse, only the cold

n't a

ee. As I rounded a corner, I heard a familiar, saccharine voice. It was Sienna, talking on the phone in a hus

s a jealous psycho. The kidnapping story was genius. He'll p

licked into place with sickening clar

landing directly on me. A smile of pure ven

away. In a flash, Sienna's expression morphed into one of theatrical panic. She rushed forward, grabbed my hand, and

ld woman tumbling into a decorative

rill with manufactured terror. "She p

sobbing over her drenched, sputtering grandmother, and he saw me, stan

sk. He didn

r to me, his

ous bitch,

ric. Before I could recover, the second one came, just as hard. The public humiliation was a br

commanded, his voice lo

tongue. Something inside me, something

N

d a folded piece of paper into my hand as Dante dragged a hysterical Si