Chapter 2

Three days later, I checked out of the hospital. Peter didn't trust me to go alone, so he drove me home himself.

Back at Bayview Villa, I was leaning against the console in the entryway, setting down my bag, when the lights snapped on behind me.

A full spread of food sat on the dining table, all of it long gone cold.

Julian was sitting at the head of the table, his face dark. He demanded, "Ashley, where the hell have you been for three days?"

Peter had told me to keep my emotions in check.

But the self-righteous edge in Julian's voice made that impossible, and I fired back, "You don't even come home yourself, so why do you care where I go?"

His expression stiffened, and for once, his voice actually softened.

"I was wrong to make you eat the seafood that day. I had the housekeeper cook a full dinner two days ago, but you never showed. I waited three days for you, Ashley. I had the table reset three times."

By the end, a note of hurt had slipped into his voice, almost without him realizing.

Something in me wavered, and I thought about telling him I had been in the hospital.

But when I looked up, I caught a telltale red mark peeking out from under his collar.

I let out a cold laugh. "Oh, so now you care? Where was all this when it actually mattered?"

Julian's jaw tightened. "Ashley, why do you always have to be so damn vicious? I'm your fiancé. Would it kill you to just give a little? Meet me halfway, and I'll leave Chloe. I'll marry you."

I gave him a thin, mocking smile. "This is who I am. If you think Chloe's so sweet and gentle, go be with her. Stop crawling back here like you need something from me."

His eyes went bloodshot, and he screamed, "You're right, Ashley. I really am a goddamn fool for coming to you."

He swept his arm across the table and sent plates and food crashing to the floor, then stormed out. The door slammed hard enough to rattle the walls.

I stood there, eyes lowered. I needed to get out of here, and soon.

Julian wasn't just cheating anymore. He was turning violent, and this was no place to raise a child.

I picked up my phone and called the moving company to lock in the arrangements.

Once everything was settled, I washed up, went through my usual routine, and got into bed.

I was drifting off when my phone rang.

I answered, and a woman's breathless moaning poured through the speaker into the quiet, dark room.

"You like that, huh?" Julian's voice came through, breathy and teasing.

I hung up without a word, but sleep never came again that night.

*****

The episode hit hard, and everything from middle school came flooding back.

My painting had earned praise from the teacher in front of the whole class.

That same day, Chloe and her crew cornered me in the empty storage room.

Two of them dragged me to the ground, and my knees scraped raw against the concrete, blood beading through the broken skin.

Chloe slapped me across the face with a sneer. I tried to curl into a ball, but someone kicked me hard in the side.

"An orphanage nobody like you thinks she gets to paint?"

*****

My head was splitting.

Peter had suggested I check into the hospital so I could shut out the outside world.

But the TV mounted on the wall wouldn't stop running the same story that Julian had spent a fortune putting together a private art exhibition for his new girlfriend.

Chloe knew exactly how to get under my skin. She knew I painted, knew what I cared about, and she made sure to demand twice as much from Julian.

The photo splashed across the news showed Julian and Chloe kissing on a yacht, lit up against the night sky.

I swallowed the pills Peter had prescribed. My face didn't change.

The pain was creeping back. I'd already taken the medication, so why was it still there?

I collapsed onto the bed. A sharp, twisting ache gripped my chest, and my limbs would not stop trembling.

Somewhere in the haze, I reached for my phone on instinct and dialed the number pinned at the top of my contacts.

He hung up on me over and over, but I kept calling back.

His voice finally came through, thick with irritation. "What is it now?"

My words barely came out, thin and dazed. "Julian, it hurts. It hurts so much."

He sounded bored. "Calling me in the middle of the night to grovel? Call me when you're dead."

The line went dead.

For a long time, I just lay there. Then I pressed my hand against the slight swell of my belly and blinked slowly.

Right. I shouldn't have crawled back to him like that. This was the last time.